


What We Fight For

by YamadaJisho



Category: Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Romance, Rough Shiatsu with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 61,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26136691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YamadaJisho/pseuds/YamadaJisho
Summary: The holocron has been destroyed, but the Empire is still a threat, and the crew of the Mantis still have a role to play.  With Saw Gerrera's Partisians, Cal, Merrin, Cere, and Greez are tasked with finding information on a new imperial weapon that's been devastating the surface of planets.  The crew make haste while dealing with their relationships with each other, straining their newfound family ties.
Relationships: Cal Kestis/Merrin
Comments: 198
Kudos: 156





	1. Chapter 1

“So, what’re we gonna do about sleeping arrangements? If we’re all gonna be traveling together, we’ll need something a little more permanent than… this.” Greez gestured all four arms around the dining area. “I only have the two rooms, Cal’s always in the way when I’m trying to work on the engines, and I want my couch back.” He looked back and forth between his three shipmates. In a ship made for two people, four were beginning to tax the Mantis’s systems. “Also, we’re gonna have to come up with a shower schedule, the water reclaimer’s having a heck of a time dealing with all of us using it every day.”

Merrin’s eyebrow raised. “I am happy to move off the couch whenever you want.”

“That’s not the only point, do you have any idea what sleep does to fabric? You toss and turn and the fabric tears and soils. I’m not looking to reupholster every couple of months.”

“There’s a spare cot, Merrin can bunk in my room.” Cere looked toward the young witch. “If that’s okay with you.”

“I believe so, though will there be enough space for the both of us?”

“It’ll be a tight fit, but I’ve been in smaller.”

“I suppose you want me to bunk with you then?” Cal chimed in, looking inquisitively to Greez.

Greez hesitated. “Well, you know, you’re not really THAT in the way, and a man’s gotta have some privacy, know what I mean?”

Cal rolled his eyes, though the wry smile on his lips belied humor. “Sure, say that to the guy without a door next to his bed.”

“I’m sure we can find you some curtains… or something…” Greez’s voice trailed off.

“It’s fine. I’m not too concerned if someone walks in on me meditating.” Cal let out a small chuckle, which turned quickly into a pained grunt.

Merrin quickly rushed to his side. “You should not be making jokes, you laugh when you make jokes.”

“You shouldn’t even be sitting up.” Cere stood, looking over Cal. “You *should* be in bed, letting the bacta do its work.”

Cal allowed Merrin to throw his arm over her shoulders and stood up. “Yeah, I know. It’s not easy just laying in the engine room, hearing all of you talking out here, not being able to do anything except count the clicks in the hyperdrive.” He turned slowly, both to let Merrin lead and because any movement was painful for him. “Seriously, if anyone wants to hang out in the back, you’d be more than welcome.”

A week had passed since Cal and Cere escaped from Nur, and the Mantis had put down on a planet with no real population or imperial presence. The planet Dantooine was the sight of an old Jedi temple, but it hadn’t been used in hundreds of years, and all the artifacts from the temple had long since been removed. Cere had suggested it as an ideal place to hide out while Cal’s injuries healed. The lightsaber stab he had taken was healing nicely with regular bacta patches and healing stims, but it was still slow going and painful for the young Jedi.

As Merrin helped Cal back to the Engine room, her grip strengthened on him. “You don’t have to do everything yourself, you know.”

“You’re helping now, aren’t you?”

“That’s not what I mean. You tried to face that imperial force user yourself, even after Cere and that inquisitor had fallen to him.”

Cal shook his head. “Yeah. He was something else. I’ve never felt anyone so powerful with the Force. Still, I don’t know what else I could have done. I couldn’t give him the holocron.”

Merrin nodded solemnly. “I know. But it’s not just that. You went onto Dathomir by yourself, and you nearly died several times. As skilled as you are, the Nightbrothers were close to overwhelming you. And Malicos…”

Cal interrupted. “You were there for him, I didn’t face him alone.”

“But you were prepared to, and if you had, you would now be dead.” She shook her head. “All I want to say is you can count on us. You do not need to do everything yourself.”

Cal was silent for a moment, and even BD-1 made no sound as it looked back and forth between the two from his perch on the workbench. “Thanks Merrin. I really do appreciate you. All of you.” He let out a pained groan through his teeth as she sat him down on his cot. As he lay down, Merrin turned to leave, but Cal caught her hand. “No, please don’t leave.”

She froze immediately, a light pink tinge painting her cheeks. “You need your rest.”

“I’ll rest, I promise, but I can’t stand being alone back here.”

Merrin turned and looked down at the red-haired Jedi, smiled crookedly, sighed, and sat down at the other end of the engine room, slowly lowing her hand as Cal let it fall from his grasp. “As you wish. I will stay with you.”

“Thank you.” Cal lay down on the cot and adjusted the bandages on his abdomen.

The two sat in silence for a long moment before she broke it once more. “May I ask you a personal question?” He nodded slightly. “Who is Prauf?” Cal’s eyes darted to her. “I’m sorry, you just said the name while you slept. Right after you came on board, you were plagued by nightmares while we were trying to keep you alive.”

“You needed to keep me alive?”

“The wound you suffered had filled with seawater. You were doing poorly when we got you on board. The first night, we were not sure if you were going to make it.”

Cal’s face fell. “I… I didn’t know it was that bad.” Merrin said nothing. “Prauf… he was a friend. He looked out for me on Bracca. He was with me when the Empire… he tried to protect me. He was trying to get everyone to fight back, I think. The inquisitor, Trilla, she murdered him right in front of me.”

Merrin let out a long breath. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Cal weakly shook his head. “It’s alright.”

“How long ago was this?”

“About two months ago. It’s what started me on this whole crazy adventure. He was trying to tell me to go, and I was prepared to, the Empire just caught up with me first. They caught up to me and he paid the price.” Cal closed his eyes tightly and breathed with purpose, trying to control his emotions. He could feel the tears well up in his eyes, but he forced them back.

“It's okay. I will not judge you for mourning your friend.” Merrin leaned forward and placed her hand on his shoulder.

His eyes opened, and he looked back to the pale witch. “Thanks. I think he’d be happy that I’m out here, finding my place in the galaxy. I just wish he was here with us is all.”

Her mouth cracked into a half-smile. “I think Greez might complain about another person on the ship if he were.” Neither made any motion at the half-hearted joke, though he appreciated her attempt to lighten the mood a little. “What was it like, facing the inquisitor?”

Cal’s head turned back toward the ceiling. “The first time, it was awful. I was so filled with rage toward her, and I just… went. If Cere and Greez hadn’t shown up, she would have killed me. Same thing with the time I faced her on Zeffo. If it wasn’t for BD here,” he patted the droid softly on the head as it trilled proudly at him, “it would have been the same. I had calmed down a little when we fought for the holocron, but when I saw what she had gone through, what she and Cere had gone through, I really couldn’t feel anything except pity. When I touched her lightsaber, I saw it all. I saw Cere promise to return to her when the clones betrayed us. I saw the empire murder the younglings under her care right in front of her. I saw them torture her, and show her the recording of Cere giving up her location. She resisted for months. I don’t know that I could have been as strong. The Empire had molded her into something she never was. She was just as much a victim as Prauf. I tried to save her from the empire at the fortress, the way I couldn’t save him. But He…” his voice trailed off, he squeezed his eyes shut, and his hand balled into a fist. Merrin simply stayed with him, her face showing little, but the hand she placed on his shoulder belied her sympathy. After a moment, he let out a silent sigh, and immediately grimaced in pain. The two stayed in silence for a moment until he opened his mouth. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“That seems fair.”

“Who was Ilyana?” Merrin’s eyes shot up at him, wide and shocked, and she immediately withdrew her hand. After a second, Cal turned away from her. “Sorry, I know that’s a painful memory, and I shouldn’t be asking…”

“It’s alright. It’s fair you should ask since I did.” She straightened herself. “She and I were best friends. We would often sneak off together to make potions and watch the nightbrothers fight. We did everything together.” Her eyes fell. “I had imagined we would always be together, sharing the bond. But that night the Jedi came…” she paused, searching for the right words. “Or whatever it was that came for us that night, we were together. I hid. She ran. I didn’t come out from my hiding place until thirst made me, days after the screams stopped. I found her, along with all my sisters, with the same wounds you now carry.”

Cal looked over to Merrin, watching her shoulders slump and her face fall as she spoke. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up something so… terrible.”

She sat back against the bulkhead. “They aren’t memories I care to relive. They are all gone, and they will not come back as they were.” She looked directly into Cal’s eyes. “I do want to know who it was that came for us that night. If he still lives, he must answer for my dead sisters.”

For a moment, he saw the deadly sorceress who had tried to kill him when he first set foot on Dathomir in her eyes, fury and hate covering her features. But in an instant, they were gone, replaced by the pale tattooed face he had come to know and respect. “Revenge won’t help you, but justice? Justice I can get behind.”

She looked him over with confusion. “You mean to help me?”

His eyes met hers, and he smiled warmly. “I want to bring whoever killed your people to justice, and I want to help you get closure. Besides, considering how much you helped us in our mission, it’s only fair we help you in yours.”

She smiled back at him, though hers was crooked and unpracticed. “Thank you, Cal. I appreciate it, more than you may know. Now, you should get some rest. Try to sleep, it will help.”

Cal let his eyelids close a bit. He hadn’t expected how much just talking with Merrin would tire him out. “I don’t think sleep is going to be a problem.” He watched as she stood, placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, and left the engine room.

Without warning, a familiar weight appeared on his leg. He looked down to see BD-1 looking at him. It let out a series beeps and trills. Cal’s head rested back on the cot, looking straight up. “I don’t know, BD. I don’t even know how I should feel. She’s just... so…” He turned his head and felt out, seeing if anyone was nearby. He felt nothing. He lowered his voice to a whisper anyway. “She’s so, terrifying, and mysterious…” His voice lowered even more. “And strong, and beautiful. My heart… every time I see her...” He felt the small droid hop off him and walk along the cot, laying next to his shoulder, being very careful to avoid the wound on his side. It looked to him quizzically. “I know, I need to put it out of my mind. It’s not like anything would come of it anyway.” Another small string of beeps sounded from it. “I know you are, buddy. I’ll always be here for you too.” Feeling the familiar weight of the droid, sleep claimed him.


	2. Chapter 2

Cal had been laying in the engine room for another week, and the pain, while still there, had subsided to a dull throbbing when he moved. The wound had been reduced to an ugly patch of pale scar tissue and black dried blood and bacta. The damage done to his muscles and intestines by the lightsaber seemed to be nearly repaired as well, as far as he could tell. He reached his senses out to the wound and felt his body nearly whole again. He swung his legs off the bed, sat up, and stood. The dull throb threatened to get very sharp, so he moved slowly. A week of seeing nothing but the engine room was maddening, so he made his way to the ship’s ramp, using the walls and the terrarium as handholds as he moved. The ship was empty, and the golden morning sun shone through the ship’s many windows. He could smell the fresh air through the breeze that moved through the ship. He reached the ramp and shuffled his way down, seeing Cere a few meters away, sitting cross-legged in the tall yellow grass, completely still. No one else seemed to be around. He approached her from behind.

“Good morning, Cal.” Cere’s voice rang out as he approached.

“Morning, Cere.” He took a seat next to her.

“You seem to be feeling better.” Her eyes opened, though she kept looking forward.

“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt nearly as much.” Cal hesitated for a moment. “How’re you holding up?”

“It’s been difficult. Ever since opening myself back up to the force, it’s been slow. I’ve felt the pull constantly. The anger in me keeps trying to lead me to the dark side.”

“But you’re getting there?”

Cere looked back, meeting his eyes. “You never truly get there. The dark side will always be there, tempting you with the easy path. But since meeting you, it’s been easier. At least a little bit.”

Cal nodded. “I’m glad I can be here for you, at least a little bit, after everything you’ve done for me.” After a small nod from Cere and a moment of silence, he spoke again. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Cere let out a small sigh. “It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I spent years thinking Trilla was lost. That moment of hope, seeing the light in her for just a moment, it hurt to see that ripped away. I’m glad I was able to apologize to her, though.” She shook her head. “I wish she was here.”

“So do I. Sometimes, it seems like we’re not helping anyone. Everyone we help, the Empire just crushes.”

“That’s not on us, Cal…”

“I know.” Cal interrupted her. “It’s just, sometimes it feels like it would be better for everyone if we just disappeared.” He shook his head. “I know it’s not true, the Empire would just keep expanding and tyrannizing everyone they can. It just feels hopeless sometimes.”

Cere’s face dropped. She looked Cal in the eye, and he could see the sadness in her eyes. “I know. That’s why I was looking for the holocron.” She raised her hand as Cal opened his mouth. “I’m not saying what you did was wrong. When I really think about it, I can’t say you didn’t make the right call. But I spent years looking for that list. It was hard to watch it destroyed.” She faced forward again, away from him. “It was my only hope for years.” She turned and looked at him again. “Now you are.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Cal’s face flushed. “I’ll do my best to live up to that…”

“You don’t have to live up to anything. You’ve been living as a Jedi. Jaro Tapal would be very proud of you.” Cere’s hand found its way onto Cal’s shoulder. “And so am I.” Her eyes traveled to the ground again. “I just miss Trilla, and I don’t know what we’re going to do now that all those children are lost.”

“We’ll find a path. The Force won’t abandon us. I just wish the path we’ve been on wasn’t so bloody.”

She looked Cal over, an inquisitive look on her face. “Did Master Tapal ever teach you how to confuse people with the Force?”

Cal’s eyebrow raised. “You mean the ‘Jedi Mind Trick’?”

A small chuckle escaped Cere’s lips for the briefest of moments. “There are some who call it that, but yes.”

He shook his head. “We never got that far. Master Tapal focused on the physical aspects of the Force with me, mainly.”

“I was pretty good at it back before the purge. I could teach you, if you want. It could help keep you out of so much combat.”

He smiled at her. “I’d like that. I’m so tired of killing.” The smile faded from his lips, the thoughts of all the battle he’d done coming to the forefront of his mind. “The smell of blood and charred flesh, and the constant fear I’ll get overwhelmed, I hate them. The scariest thing is how easy it’s gotten. When I’m fighting, I don’t even see stormtroopers as people. They just become obstacles. I don’t want to forget that they’re people too. I’d prefer to help people, rather than just get them out of my way.”

Cere could only nod. “You have no idea how much I understand that. If I can help, I will. I just wish it wasn’t necessary sometimes.” She shook her head. “Unfortunately, using the force to manipulate people doesn’t work on everyone. It generally only works on those without the strong convictions of someone who believes in what they’re doing. It’ll likely work on rank-and-file stormtroopers, but you’ll probably still have to be prepared to fight if you meet any more of those purge troopers.”

“I understand.” Cal turned back to the ship. “Hey, do you hear that?”

A small alarm emanated from the ship, the sound of the communications system receiving a message labeled as ‘high priority’. The two recognized it by the high-pitched regular pulsing of sound. They entered the ship, and Cere played the message. A holo image of Saw Gererra appeared on the holomap table. “Cal Kestis, I hope this message reaches you quickly. We need your help, and I don’t know who else to call that can handle this. My forces are on Rishi, and we’re pinned down. We need your particular skills to get off this planet in one piece. I’ve enclosed our coordinates in this message. Please. We need you.” With that, the image of the freedom fighter faded.

Cal looked at Cere. “Well, ask and you shall receive, I guess. You were asking what we should do now.”

“Do you feel up to it?” She looked down at his wound.

“I’m doing better, I should be good.”

Cere nodded. “I’ll make sure to teach you some of the basics on the way. Rishi is pretty far away, it should take us a couple days to make it there.”

“What was that all about?” Cal and Cere turned to see Greez walking through the door of the ship carrying two baskets filled with some kind of red lumpy fruit.

“Saw called, he needs our help on Rishi.” Cere explained.

Greez rolled his head back in annoyance. “Aw, don’t tell me we’re getting caught up with his group again?”

“They need us, and we’ve been stuck here for a couple weeks.” Cal shrugged “It’ll do us some good to have something to do.” He gave the ship a once over. “Where’s Merrin?”

“She said she was going to meditate by some old ruins over to the west.” Greez started over to the kitchen, setting down the baskets on the dining table. “You wanna call her up? I gave her a com.”

“That will not be necessary.” Merrin appeared next to the holotable in a bout of green flame. “I saw the message from this Saw. Are we preparing to leave?”

The three all looked to Cal. His eyes shifted from each of his companions. “They’re in trouble. The sooner we leave, the better.”

Greez hesitated for a moment before throwing all four hands into the air. “So much for our little break. I’ll go make the calculations for the hyperspace jump.”

Merrin gave Cal a concerned look. “Are you feeling up to something like this?”

Cal nodded. “As close as I can be. I’ll be trying to avoid any trouble, though.”

Merrin’s gaze turned skeptical. “Trouble has a way of finding you.”

“She’s not wrong.” Cere chuckled under her breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my, the work's been up for 1 day, and already so much love! Thank you, I hope you all like the rest of this story. I got onto the bandwagon late and only played through Jedi:Fallen Order for the first time a couple weeks ago, but oh man did I fall in love.


	3. Chapter 3

Cal looked down at the rapidly approaching planet below them. The planet was a giant blue ball, marbled with green veins. The entire world looked like a balmy tropical paradise, ruined by the several Star Destroyers in orbit around it. He could only shake his head. “The Empire has to destroy everything, don’t they?”

“This is a pirate haven, kid.” Greez never looked away from his controls. “You can bet the Empire’s having a lot of trouble down there.”

“I have the drop info, patching in the landing coordinates now.” Cere typed a response in her comm station. “We’ll be landing a good distance away from any imperial forces, Partisan forces have secured our landing zone.”

Cal stepped forward. “Once we land, I’ll meet up with them and see where Saw is.”

“We.” Cal turned to see Merrin right behind him, her arms crossed. “I am going with you.”

“It’ll be dangerous…”

Merrin cut Cal off. “Yes, that is why I will be joining you. You will need someone to watch your back, and you are not fully healed yet.”

Cal opened his mouth to protest, but a dull throb in his left side made him reconsider. “All right, we’ll see where Saw is.”

“Alright, take some seat, we’re coming in fast.” Greez’s face was scrunched in concentration as everyone got seated, the atmosphere rocking the small ship in heavy turbulence as it came in for a landing. A partisan waved them down as they landed on the small makeshift pad, illuminated by the afternoon sun.

The four stood and exited the ship as soon as the door opened and the ramp extended to the ground. The partisan approached them, his tall and broad shouldered frame towering over all four of them. He walked right up to Cere. “You the one I was talking to on the comm?”

“That’s me. Cere Junda.”

“Ortas Jindo. Pleased to meet you.” The large human held out a hand to shake, which Cere took. He looked over to Cal. “You must be the Jedi.”

“He is.” Cere jumped in before Cal could speak. “This is Cal Kestis.”

Cal’s eyes found Cere’s, and she looked at him intently, wordlessly asking him to trust her. “Glad to meet you. Where’s Saw?”

“He’s on Tempar Island, to the east. I set up a map of the island and the imperial encampment on the coast.”

Ortas handed Cal a chip, which he inserted into BD-1’s reader. “What’s the situation?”

“It’s bad. We were here to try to gain support from some of the pirate factions, but the empire arrived shortly after we did. Negotiations went downhill not long after. I don’t know what Saw has planned, but he wanted me to ask you to get to him after sabotaging the imperial artillery at their encampment.”

Cal and Merrin looked over the holomap BD-1 projected. “It looks like they have a battalion of AT-ST stationed there. We should be able to sneak in along the coast and sabotage them once night falls.”

Merrin nodded. “These boats might be useful in reaching the island where this ‘Saw’ person is. After we destroy those machines, we should sink all the boats except the one we will use.”

“That’s a good idea.” Cal gestured to the inner coast on the map. “Most of the imperial forces should be far enough away they won’t be able to react until we’re already gone.”

“We’ll keep monitoring imperial transmissions while you work.” Cere turned to the Partisian. “We can make sure your forces are kept in the loop as well.”

“I appreciate it, our slicing equipment was destroyed two days ago, so we’ve been in the dark about imperial movements since then, other than the orbital strikes they’ve been making.”

Greez’s face paled. “Orbital strikes?”

Ortas raised a large, meaty hand in defense. “They’re really just guessing as to where we are, and they’ve kept the strikes to the various islands, trying to ether destroy our forces or flush them out into the open. So far, they’ve targeted the wrong islands. Your ship is safe, though, they’ve kept all their strikes off the coast.”

Greez exhaled loudly. “Yeah, for now.”

Merrin’s eyebrow raised. “Why do they not destroy all the islands in the chain?”

Ortas shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m not about to question our good luck.” He held his hand out to the young nightsister. “Ortas, by the way.”

“Merrin.” She made no move to take his hand, instead moving back over to the map.

“Charmed, I’m sure.” Ortas held his hand out for another moment before moving it to Greez.

Greez took his hand and shook it lightly. “Greez Dritus, captain of the Mantis.”

“Good to meet you all.”

“I’ll keep the engines hot in case we need to get out of here in a hurry.” Greez turned and walked swiftly back up the ramp of the ship.

Cere followed behind more casually. “Good luck, you two.”

“Cere, wait…” Cal ran up to the older Jedi and lowered his voice. “Why did you only refer to me as ‘the Jedi’?”

“I’m still reconnecting to the force. It’s a slow process. I’d just slow you down.”

Cal looked at the older woman skeptically. “I saw you fight in the fortress, I think I’d be the one slowing you down.”

“That was different. I was letting my rage fuel me in there. It was… difficult. Here will be different. Besides, I’ll do a lot more good intercepting imperial communications than taking out some random stormtroopers.” She looked to Merrin, still standing next to BD-1 at the bottom of the ramp. “Besides, I have confidence the two of you will be able to handle anything that comes your way.”

Cal nodded solemnly. “I guess you’re right.”

Greez appeared, leaning out the doorway to the ship. “Hey, the sooner you meet with Saw the sooner we can get outta here. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”

“We’ll do our best.” Cal looked back and forth between Cere and Greez. “We’ll be back tomorrow.”

Greez nodded. “If you need anything, let us know kid.”

“ _WE_ will.” Merrin’s voice sounded from the bottom of the ramp, her gaze fixed on the Latero. Greez’s gaze shifted back and forth as he gave the Zabrak an uncomfortable smile. “We should head out, Cal.” Cal looked to her in time to meet her eyes and nodded. “Are you not bringing a poncho?”

“Nah, it doesn’t look like it’s going to rain, and it can get in the way during a fight.”

Merrin simply shrugged. “As you wish.” The two walked toward the coast, BD-1 jumping onto Cal’s back, arcing toward the imperial encampment according to the map. “Let me know if you have trouble keeping up.”

Cal scoffed at her for a moment, then smiled once he saw the small smirk on her lips. “Yeah, sure.” The two traveled down the coast as a swift pace, keeping in the ferns just off the beach. “You were pretty insistent on coming with me…”

“As I said, you are injured.”

Cal waved her response off. “Yeah, but anyone could have done that.” He shrunk back a bit when she glared at him. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here. I was just saying.”

Merrin exhaled and shook her head. “I told you, I wish to fight by your side. There was no reason to join you when you retrieved the holocron, or so it seemed at the time, and I needed to remain on the ship to maintain the spell when we were at the fortress. I do not wish to stay behind again.”

Cal could only nod. “I get that. I hated watching Cere go on her own, not knowing what she would face in there.” He smiled at the Dathomirian. “I’m not trying to complain, I’m really not. I’m really glad you’re here.”

Merrin simply nodded. “I wish I had time to commune with this world before we went. When we were on Bogano, its energies were… overwhelming. They were so different than Dathomir. Dantooine was the same, but meditating at those ruins allowed me to become familiar with that world.”

“What’s it like, communing with a whole world?”

She paused, slowing her gait. “Every world is so different. Dathomir was ancient and complex, Bogano was primal, it was as though the entire planet was screaming its power at me. Dantooine was a welcome change from both worlds. I can see why the Jedi chose to build a temple there. Its energy was… warm. Inviting. Comforting. When I was communing there, even the large beasts that roamed the plains left me alone.”

Cal stopped, surprise etched on his features. “Really? Kath hounds are known for being pretty aggressive.”

Merrin looked back at him and shrugged. “Maybe they knew what would happen were they to attack me…” The same smirk appeared on her face, and Cal let out a small laugh, grateful that that simple act didn’t send pain shooting down his side anymore. She continued on, Cal following along. “What did you plan for this imperial encampment?”

“Not much yet, I wanted to get close enough to see it then wait for nightfall. The sun’s about at the horizon, so I figure we should have a good amount of time to come up with a plan once we reach it.”

“And if we run into trouble?”

Cal took this opportunity to smirk himself. “Hey, we’re a Jedi and a Nightsister. What could go wrong?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really happy so many of you guys are liking the story! Definitely feel free to leave a comment, they help inspire me to write! I also JUST noticed that I can respond to them. That's what I get for not studying the site before posting to it I guess. Anyway, next chapter, soon.


	4. Chapter 4

“Okay, that was a bad idea.”

Merrin’s voice came out harsh. “What was your first clue!?” She twisted her hand covered in green flame, and tendrils of energy whipped up from the ground, wrapped around a stormtrooper’s throat, and forced him immediately to the ground, knocking his helmet against a rock, crushing a portion of it and knocking the trooper inside unconscious. The other stormtrooper took aim at her head and fired, just for Cal’s lightsaber to ricochet the blast back, hitting the last trooper in the chest and knocking him back as he crumpled to the ground. As the last trooper fell, Cal swung his glowing yellow blade at the grounded trooper’s helmet, destroying the unconscious man’s communications equipment.

“They can hear better than I thought they could in those helmets.”

“It would seem.” She looked the Jedi over, the both of them breathing heavily. “Are you hurt?”

“No more than usual. You?” Merrin shook her head. “Okay, no more trying to sneak right behind stormtroopers. Check. Did you hear if they got a warning off to anyone?”

“I did not, however…”

Cal gave a nod and activated his comm. “Cere, is there any spike in imperial activity on the coms?”

“Give me a second.” After a few tense seconds, Cere’s voice sounded from the com again. “No. Did you run into trouble?”

“Just a couple old friends. Wanted to make sure they didn’t tell anyone about the reunion.”

“I’ll keep an ear out just in case, but everything’s pretty quiet right now. It sounds like they’re preparing for something big, though. Lots of troop movement north of their encampment.”

“Good news for us, at least.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, that’s where all their shuttles are. It seems like they’re evacuating the majority of their forces, and I don’t think it’s because they’re giving up.”

Cal let that news linger for a moment. “Understood. Keep us in the loop.”

“Will do, you two be careful out there.”

Merrin knelt beside the trooper she had forced to the ground and inspected his gear. “I believe we should hide these two where they will not be found.”

“On it.” Cal concentrated on the unconscious trooper, lifting him in the air and levitating him over to a ditch, where he unceremoniously dropped him. Merrin’s hands glowed with her green flame as the dead trooper was pulled into the ground by the same tendrils that knocked out the other trooper. Cal winced inwardly, remembering Taron Malicos disappearing into the ground on Dathomir in the same way. He dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. “I think we should cut across the jungle right here, BD’s map showed an overlook to the imperial encampment just north of here, I think.” BD-1 projected the holographic map of the area right in front of the two, showing the small cliff. “It’ll be a good vantage point for us to plan our sabotage.”

She gestured to the blasters left by the defeated stormtroopers. “Should we take these ones’ weapons?”

“I never really learned how to use a blaster. You?”

“I have not used one of these before.” Merrin stood back up, bringing one of the blasters up with her, and tossed it into the brush. “I suppose we do not need them. Your Jedi tricks are quite useful, by the way.”

Cal found himself smiling at her comment as the two started through the coastal jungle. “Your magic has been pretty impressive too, you know. Is it hard to do?”

“It can become exhausting if I use it too much, especially if I have no tie to the world I am on, like this one. What of your Jedi tricks?”

“I have to maintain focus to use them, and they do draw on my strength. I’ve had to learn how to regain my focus during a fight.” Merrin nodded, and the two walked in silence for a moment. “So, what are Rishi’s energies like?”

Merrin stopped. “What?”

“Well, you told me that when you commune with a planet, each energy is different. You said you found Dathomir complex, Bogano primal, and Dantooine peaceful. I was just curious about what you thought of Rishi.”

She continued next to Cal, a thoughtful look on her face. “I do not know how to describe it. This world’s song is… chaotic. It is soft one minute, then deafening the next, and I never know from where it will come. I do not know if I would be able to work with this world’s energy were I to listen to its song for a month…” she abruptly stopped, falling immediately behind.

Cal stopped and turned toward her. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. It’s just… I’ve never talked so openly about my magic with anyone before. These are secrets passed down by the Nightsisters, they are not for outsiders to know.”

A faint blush appeared on his cheeks. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

Merrin shook her head. “No, I know you will not steal our secrets. I just gave no thought as to who you are when I answered.” She stepped toward him, her eyes staring right into his. He couldn’t help thinking they were the color of warm honey. “I suppose I do not think of you as an outsider. I trust you more than I have any of the Nightbrothers. It is a new experience for me.”

He smiled warmly at her. “I know exactly how you feel. I know we’ve only known each other for about a month, but it feels like it’s been a lot longer than that.”

“Perhaps this is what they call ‘battlefield camraderie’. We have fought together, so now we trust each other.”

Cal’s heart squeezed, and his voice came out softly. “Yeah. That’s probably it.” He pushed the feeling down, noticing the twinge of disappointment in his voice, doing his best to ignore his fantasies of Merrin telling him she had feelings for him. “Hey, we should be close to the ridge, and the sun is going down, let’s hurry.”

Merrin nodded. “Of course.”

The two reached the ridge as the sun had just dipped below the horizon, the sky painted brilliant shades of orange and red. Dozens of stormtroopers moved about in a hastily cleared area just below their overlook, tents pitched up right next to at least ten AT-ST walkers staged along the coast. In the water right next to the walkers were a line of small skiffs, flat and boxy metal boats with a single engine in the back. Cal looked over the scene. “It looks like three patrols are moving around the skiffs and walkers. If we can get around them, I can probably arm the bombs the walkers carry while they’re sill inside. That would take them out.”

“What of the boats?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet.”

Merrin looked over the scene for a moment. “How many of these bombs do these machines carry?”

“I don’t know. A couple dozen at least, I’m sure.”

Their eyes met. “Could we harvest some bombs and plant them in the boats?”

His eyes wandered over the encampment. “We’d have to board one of the walkers to harvest them, but I think I could activate most of the bombs remotely.”

She regarded the jedi for a moment, her brow scrunched in thought. “What if we activated one of the walkers and simply used it to destroy all we do not need?”

Cal considered the question for a moment. “That might work. If we can board one without being noticed and activate it while they don’t know we’re there, we could probably do a lot of damage before they could even react. We’ll probably need to jump a pilot to get the activation codes, maybe we can catch one on patrol.” BD-1 let out a series of beeps and trills. “Wait, really? Are you sure?” It trilled again happily.

“What did he say?”

“BD says he can slice into a walker and activate it without the codes! He downloaded the backdoor into imperial walkers when I jacked that AT-AT on Kashyyyk!” Cal patted the droid on the head. “You’re the best, little buddy.” BD nuzzled against his hand.

Merrin scanned over the encampment once more. “I believe I can get the furthest boat ready to depart while you pilot the walker and cause your carnage. That way you can destroy the boats on your way to me and we can leave quickly, before they can react.”

He couldn’t stop the smile from forming on his face. “I like the way you think.” He looked back and forth between the droid and the Nightsister. “I think we have a plan.”

“Now we wait for nightfall?”

Cal nodded. “I think it’ll be the best time to go. We’ll have cover of darkness and the brightness of the explosions will be more disorienting. Also, you heard Cere, they’re starting to take their people off the surface. Hopefully that’ll mean less people for us to deal with.”


	5. Chapter 5

The marbled moon of Rishi shined brightly, softly illuminating the imperial walkers. Cal kept low to the ground as he ran toward the closest one. He had waited until the guard patrols were at their furthest away before he made his rush, with the dull ache in his side he wanted to take as few chances as possible. The ground around the walkers was all dark, wet sand, and he hoped that his footprints went unnoticed by any patrols that crossed them. When he had left his vantage point, Merrin had disappeared in a bout of green flame, so he assumed she was already observing the boats, ready to commandeer one once he began a ruckus. He ran past the first walker, jumping behind the second one in the line on the coast. “Alright, you ready to do this, BD?” The droid on his back beeped. Cal grabbed the top of the walker, it’s legs bent to let the main body rest on the ground along with the rest of the mobile artillery, pulled himself up to peer over the edge, and scanned the coast for a patrol. Seeing none, he hopped up, opened the hatch on top of the walker, and jumped in. “Okay buddy, let’s do this.” BD-1 let out a string of beeps, jumped off Cal’s back, and thrust its scomp link into the walker’s port, sparks flying from the port as the droid accessed the walker’s systems. A low hum began below their feet, the hatch above them shut, and the control panel lit up. “Okay, throttle, turn, blasters, rockets, grenades, here we go. Up.” Cal flipped a switch on the panel above his head. The view ports in front of him flipped open and the walker stood up.

A voice echoed from outside the walker. “Hey, what the… INTRUDER! ALARM!!”

“Well, that didn’t take long.” Cal pushed the throttle lever causing the walker to start moving forward and slammed his hand on a button on his left. He heard the familiar high-pitched whine of the grenade dispenser ejecting a payload. He grabbed hold of the joystick, turned the cockpit to face the other walkers on the shore, and pressed the trigger. The walker’s blasters fired a volley, impacting into an unmanned walker causing its head to explode in a bright flash and the violent sound of shearing metal and fire. A series of blue explosions went off around the walker’s feet, the grenades going off in a string of blasts that illuminated the battlefield like a strobe light. Another series of blaster bolts from Cal destroyed another three walkers before the sound of a rotary cannon sounded in the distance and several blaster bolts pierced the walker’s head, Cal instinctively dodging one right before it impacted in his neck. The walker shook violently, metal sheared, and a blue hologram of the walker appeared on the control pad, its right leg flashing red. Then the walked started to fall. “Hold on!” he yelled to BD as he pulled the trigger for the blasters, firing over and over as the walker fell. Only a second later, Cal and BD were thrown to the side of the cockpit at it landed on the ground sideways.

Cal had time to get on his knees before the force spurned him into action. He ignited his lightsaber and deflected several incoming blaster bolts piercing the walker’s shell, focusing his power to push the hatch open. The hatch loudly popped as it was punched clean off the top of the walker and flew into the darkness. BD-1 jumped onto Cal’s back as he pushed himself out of the hatch, escaping several more bolts tearing through the hull and landing in knee-deep water. BD let out a low beep and Cal didn’t hesitate, he dove into the water right as a blaster hit the walker’s power core and the entire mechanism exploded, shrapnel tearing paths along the water right above him. He surfaced and took a quick glance around the coast, looking for his remaining targets. “5 skiffs, 3 walkers…” he focused his power and used the force to pull a pilot climbing into a functional walker to him, quickly turned, and pushed him far into the ocean. The force impacted in the pilot forcing him to grunt as the push forced the air from his lungs. He flew so far Cal barely heard the splash.

Several troopers carrying heavy blaster cannons came within Cal’s line of sight. “There he is!” one of them yelled as they all readied their weapons. Cal ignited both sides of his lightsaber as they began firing and allowed the force to guide him, spinning his lightsaber quickly and ricocheting their bolts back to them. Several grazed his arms and legs, and the water around him exploded with the impacts, but a second later all the troopers had been knocked to the ground, unmoving, felled by their own blasters.

Cal wasted no time. He started heading up the coast toward Merrin as another walker rose up and turned toward him. He threw his double-bladed lightsaber toward the walker, hitting it at the top of both its legs. Sparks flew from the impacts as the head of the walker slid down and impaled itself on the stubs of one of its legs before falling to the ground. Cal summoned his lightsaber back to him, catching it in one fluid motion. Another voice sounded from the coast. “It’s a Jedi! Don’t use your blasters!”

“The Jedi’s mine!” Another voice sounded as a trooper with an electrobaton charged him, two more troopers behind him. Cal thrust his hand out and pulled the leading trooper to him, swinging his saber in a wide arch, cutting halfway through the trooper’s chest just below the arm. The smell of blood and charred flesh hit his nose instantly, and the adrenaline coursing through him didn’t mask the pain his wound was in quite so much anymore. He settled for pushing both the other troopers back, though he found it more difficult to channel the force. He was starting to lose his focus. Cal turned and ran, seeing Merrin by a boat in the distance flanked by two stormtroopers. He switched his lightsaber back to a single blade and threw the weapon toward her, arcing the weapon to fly back to him spinning. The yellow blade cut though all the other boats in the line, leaving only the one boat Merrin was next to.

Merrin threw herself back to avoid a wild swing from a trooper’s electrobaton, throwing a bolt of green flame at him. The trooper deflected the bolt with his baton and swung again, hitting Merrin in the stomach, causing her to double over. Another overhead swing caught her in the jaw, violently forcing her into the water. She surfaced holding herself up with one arm as she gritted in pain, red blood dripping from the side of her mouth. Her other hand jutted forward, and the trooper was consumed in green flame. Cal could hear the trooper’s scream over the loud sloshing of the water he ran through. Another trooper approached Merrin from the side and kicked her in the ribs, swinging his baton down on her head. Cal didn’t think, he just thrust his hand forward, and the stormtrooper was punched back through the force before the baton could connect, nearly folding him in half sideways from the impact. His head pounded from the exertion and his wound was on fire. Merrin pulled herself out of the water and looked over to him. “CAL!” she screamed, forcing her palm out, the green flame surrounding it flying toward him and past him, hitting a trooper he hadn’t seen behind him in the chest. The trooper’s arms pulled into his body, he convulsed for a second, then fell into the water, unmoving, floating face down. As Cal saw it, he noted the two other troopers right behind him as well and moved out of the way of one baton, throwing his lightsaber up to deflect an overhead strike from the other trooper. He swung his lightsaber around himself, deflecting strike after strike, but his side burned and the trooper’s electrobatons had much more weight to deflect than another lightsaber. Green tendrils sprung from the water and wrapped around one trooper’s head, twisting it violently with a sickening wet snap. The swinging baton knocked Cal’s lightsaber up, and to the right. The trooper spun it around, catching him in the side. White hot pain exploded in his wound as the baton smashed into it, and Cal was blinded by the lightning coursing though him. As his vision returned, he saw a baton flying toward his skull as a bolt of green flame hit the trooper in the chest, causing him to convulse and scream, dropping the baton before it could impact. He vaguely heard a mechanical sound in the background as Merrin pulled him out of the water. “Cal, we have to move.”

“Yeah.” He pulled himself close to Merrin’s side, trying to force his legs to work through the blinding pain of his entire left side. She dragged him to the skiff and pushed him in, throwing herself in right after him. BD-1 jumped off Cal’s back onto the engine, grabbing the throttle with its foot and pushing it down. He turned over and looked back to the coast as the skiff sped away from it, and saw the last walker standing up. “Merrin…”

“I see it. You said… you can activate… its grenades… from here?” her breath came out labored and pained.

Cal tried to focus, to find the bombs inside the walker’s hull, but the pain was clouding his senses. “I can’t… can’t see…” He could barely breath, every word was a struggle. The walker aimed its blasters and fired, Cal raising his lightsaber just enough to block a bolt from hitting the deck of the skiff, but the impact nearly knocking the blade from his hand.

“I will find them. You just activate them. Asthuri….” Merrin chanted softly and a light green flame enveloped the grenade port on the walker. In the force, it was as though the bombs glowed. Cal reached out, and turned the pin on one grenade, then another, then another. He forced himself up and cried in pain as he wildly swung his saber, deflecting another bolt. A loud set of explosions went off, and the walker’s side lit up in blue flame. The impact of all its grenades going off threw the walker to the side, knocking it completely off its feet and consuming half its head in fire.

Cal looked over the ruins of the encampment. All the walkers and all the skiffs were destroyed. They had done it. He allowed himself to lay his back against the side of the skiff. BD-1 moved up to him and ejected a healing stim from his head and into his lap. He looked down to the stim, took it, and injected it into his side above his wound, sucking in a breath through his teeth as more pain exploded from the site. The bacta quickly began working, and the pain started to dull. His breath came out long, exhausted and pained. “We did it.”

Merrin scooted to his side, looking over him with concern. “Let me see… your side… where you were hit…” she gritted her teeth in pain.

“Hold on. BD?” The droid needed no other words. Another healing stim popped out of his head and arced toward the nightsister. “Use it, it’ll help.”

She regarded the glowing green ampule with skepticism for a moment, then looked at Cal and smiled. She pushed the stim into her shoulder as she had seen him do many times. Her breathing immediately slowed and became less labored. “Thank you.” She reached toward him and began undoing the straps that held his leather breastplate in place.

“What’re you…”

“I will see this wound. You are bleeding… quite badly.” She raised her hand that had held his side and showed it to him, covered in his blood. Cal looked at her hand, then softly nodded. He reached down and the both of them removed the leather slowly. Merrin lifted his shirt, then started to untie the sash around her waist. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“This must be bound.” She pulled the sash free and began to wrap it around his abdomen. “The bleeding has slowed, but it has not stopped.”

Cal looked her over, asking the force to help him see her. He gasped as he saw where she was incomplete. “Merrin, your ribs are broken!”

She tied the sash around him tightly, earning her a pained grunt from the jedi. “This would explain… why it is hard… to breathe…” She looked back to the rapidly fading coast. “Can they… track us?” BD-1 let out a series of beeps, and Cal let out a pained laugh. “What did he say?”

Cal let himself breath for a moment before answering. “He said he deactivated the skiff’s transponder when we left. No one knows where we are.”

Merrin looked down to the little droid, who looked back up to her, his antennae perking up. She smiled. “Cal was right. You really are… the best…” BD-1 trilled and beeped, and hopped up into her arms. She caught him, and grunted in pain.

“BD, she’s hurt.”

“It is okay, I will live.” She patted the droid on the head. BD trilled, then hopped down and jumped on the engine, turning it slightly to adjust their course.

“I think BD’s got the driving down.” Cal allowed his muscles to relax as he lay back against the boat. Merrin lay opposite him, looking at his wound. He smiled. “It’ll be okay. The bacta’ll do its job.”

Her gaze shifted to his eyes. “What? Oh, yes. I’m sure it will.” She looked away, looking to the front of the boat, though her eyes darted back to him a couple of times.

Cal rested his head, turning it to see what Merrin was looking at. A large, dark form grew on the horizon, the form of a large island in the night waters appearing slowly before them. “Is that where Saw is, BD?” The droid trilled and activated its holomap, showing the exact course they were taking to Saw’s position. It led directly to the island in front of them. “Good. How soon…” A graphic marked as ETA appeared on the map and showed less than five minutes, counting down. “I’ll try to get at least a little rest before we get there, then.” He closed his eyes.

Merrin sat up quickly, a pained whine escaping her lips. “Do no fall asleep Cal, you have lost…”

“I’m not going to sleep, BD’s stim’ll keep me awake.” Cal smiled at her without opening his eyes. “I’m just trying to focus a bit before we get there.”

She slowly relaxed, laying back on the side of the skiff. “I see. Perhaps I should… do the same. That battle was… exhausting.”

“Cal, Merrin, come in!” Cere’s voice sounded loudly over both their coms. “Cal! Merrin!”

“We’re here, Cere.” Cal struggled into a sitting position. “Mission success.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. The imperial encampment?”

“All their walkers are destroyed.”

“Amazing work, Cal. Imperial chatter picked up just a few minutes ago, they’ve been requesting reinforcements and more equipment. You must have hurt them badly.”

“You expected different?”

“They reported that the two jedi were gone, and I assumed the worst.”

Merrin’s head popped up. “Two jedi?”

Cere’s voice came out with a small laugh. “I doubt any of them had ever seen a Nightsister before, they probably assumed you were a jedi too.”

Her head lay back down. “I see.”

Cal smiled at her. “Maybe we should get you a lightsaber.”

“Where are you two now?”

“We’re about to hit shore and meet up with Saw.” Cal winced as the pain in his side flared up. “And maybe see if they have a doctor with them.”

“I’ll keep listening if there’s any change, but the imperials seem to be scrambling for the moment.”

“I can’t say we didn’t earn that. Let me know if anything changes, but otherwise I’ll contact you when we know what Saw wants.”

“Sounds good. Stay safe, and may the Force be with you.”

The com went silent, and the skiff’s engine quieted. A moment later, it hit ground and skidded to a halt, and a large armored figure appeared at the side of the boat. “That was quite the firework show you put on.”

Cal’s eyes opened, and he smiled at the man. “Saw.”

“Thanks for coming, Cal.” He offered his hand, which Cal took.


	6. Chapter 6

Cal’s wounds felt numb as the medical droid administered kolto treatments and regenerated his tissues. “How’s Merrin doing?”

“They said she has three broken ribs, a fractured jaw, and a whole lot of organ bruising. All in all, she’s a tough one, though.” Saw dropped a pad on a table and stood by Cal’s side. “You should both be back up quickly.”

“Good to know. I assume you didn’t just ask us here to clear out some imperial encampment though.”

“I need your help getting my people off world.”

Cal’s eyes widened. “I don’t think the Mantis could hold all your men, Saw.”

“We have a transport ship, but it’s grounded so long as all those star destroyers are above us. We’d never break atmo before we were shot down.”

“What are you even doing here?”

Saw breathed heavily and sat down next to the medical bed Cal lay on. “We came to see if we could get the support of some of the pirate factions here on Rishi. Most of them didn’t care for the Republic, so they really hate the Empire. I was trying to see if we could make Rishi a base of operations for us, but the empire arrived shortly after we did and started bribing captains to turn us in, and coming down hard on the ones that didn’t take their bribes. We’ve had to move locations several times just to stay alive, but we’re out of places to run. The empire’s been bombing islands off the face of Rishi trying to flush us out.”

“Merrin asked your man Ortas earlier, why aren’t they just bombing all the islands in the chain?”

“You have any idea how many islands are on this world? The whole planet is a series of strips of land and islands, it’s one giant archipelago.” Saw shrugged. “That, and there are a lot of pirate groups that have bases on the islands, and the Empire don’t seem keen on alienating their new friends, at least not yet.”

Confusion came over Cal’s face. “What do you mean, not yet?”

Saw picked up the pad he had, pressed a few buttons on it, and handed it to Cal. “We’ve gotten a little information on some new imperial super weapon, something that can wipe out entire countries on a planet with a single use. We don’t know how it works, but a few of our people have seen it in action, and it’s devastating. I’ve gotten reports that the weapon ignited the atmosphere on Mandalore and killed millions of people. It wiped out a tenth of the planet, and it’s on its way here.”

Cal looked over the reports on the pad, then shook his head and lay the pad down. “Why would they come here?”

“We’ve been a thorn in the Empire’s side for a while now. The Partisans might not be the oldest group fighting against the Empire, but we’ve been one of the most successful, and now we’re the largest after Mandalore burned.”

Cal could only nod. “So, what’s the plan on getting everyone out of here?”

“I haven’t come up with one. I can’t think of a way to do it without you, and I don’t understand the jedi enough to think of one that involves you.” Saw stood back up. “We should have some time, though, the weapon isn’t here yet, and they won’t use it when they have so many of their own forces planetside.”

Cal paled. “Saw, we’ve been monitoring imperial communications, and they’ve been evacuating the planet since last night.”

Saw let out a breath. “Damn, we have less time that I thought. Is there any way you could take one of their shuttles up to a Star Destroyer and disable it?”

“What good would disabling a single Star Destroyer do?”

“They have seven destroyers in orbit, but they’re spread pretty thin. If you can disable one, it should give us just enough of a window to escape.”

“I don’t even know if I could even get onto a destroyer, much less disable one. Jacking a walker is one thing, getting onto an imperial ship with hundreds of stormtroopers on it is another.”

The medical droid working on Cal’s wound let its arms fall to its side and stood straight up. “Body mass and tissues have been regenerated. You may return to duty.”

Cal looked down to his bare chest. The wound on his side was completely gone, the only clue it was there in the first place being a pale scar the size of a small coin. He arced his chest, stretching the ribs slowly, and breathed a sigh of relief when there was no pain, only a tightness and a twinge of discomfort. He swung his legs off the table and stood up, taking the shirt Saw handed to him and pulling it over his head. “Thanks, I feel a lot better.”

“You were in bad shape on the boat, it’s the least we could do.”

The door to the small room Cal and Saw were in opened with a quiet hiss and Merrin rushed in. “Cal!”

“I’m okay. They fixed me up pretty good.”

She stopped a few feet from him, looking him over for a moment before nodding. “I’m glad you are better.”

He smiled at her. “Yeah, you look like you got patched up too.”

She nodded again. “It is fortunate they have medical droids and more medicines than just bacta. Do your wounds ache anymore?”

“Just a little soreness, not nearly as bad as they were.” She took a step closer to her. “You saved my life. Thank you.”

Merrin gave a half-hearted shrug. “You saved mine as well.”

“Yeah, so I guess it’s just two I owe you now instead of three.”

Merrin smiled and looked away for a moment. “If it were not for you, I would still be on Dathomir, under thrall by Malicos. I think we do not need to keep score.”

Saw looked back and forth between the two, his eyebrow raised. “Did you two want some privacy?”

Both Cal and Merrin looked to him, both having momentarily forgotten he was there. Cal shook his head. “What? No, I don’t… Saw, this is Merrin. She’s a Nightsister of Dathomir.”

Saw looked her over critically for a moment. “You saved Cal’s life?”

“Several times now.” She looked back to Cal for a moment. “He has done the same for me.”

“Regardless, we owe you a debt for that. We’d all be dead if not for him.” Merrin simply nodded in response.

“So, other than the transport, what else do you have here that could help us?”

“Not much, I’m afraid. Most of our equipment has had to be left behind every time we’ve moved to a different island. We’ve prioritized basic necessities, food, medical supplies, that kind of thing.” Saw gestured to the pad Cal held. “A full list of what we have left is on there.”

Cal took a moment to scan through the list. “This isn’t much.”

“Like I said.”

Merrin cocked her head to one side. “What is it we are trying to do?”

“Saw asked us for help in getting his forces off world.” Cal handed her the pad. “We don’t have a lot to work with, though.”

Merrin took the pad and looked it over. “Perhaps we should contact Cere and Greez, they have much more experience in getting past the Empire than us.”

Cal turned to Saw. “It’s true.”

Saw turned, gesturing to the two to follow. “We’ll get then on the holocom. Follow me.” He led the two through well-lit metallic corridors punctuated with doors. Cal guessed they were on board the transport now, everything set up for the Partisan’s escape. The three walked only a short distance before reaching what looked like the ship’s command center, several stations set up for ship functions mostly unmanned and a large viewport surrounding the entire front of the bridge showing the large cavern the transport was currently inhabiting. Saw walked up to a small circular table that looked nearly identical to the holographic map on the Mantis. “Open a channel to the Mantis.” Saw commanded one of the other partisans on the bridge.

After a moment, the holomap sprung to life and a glowing blue image of Cere and Greez appeared. “Cal, Merrin, it’s so good to see you two.” Cere looked over the two with grateful concern etched on her face. “We haven’t heard from you since you landed on shore.”

Cal shrugged confidently. “We were getting patched up. Any word on that imperial encampment since we left it?”

“They didn’t get their reinforcements, most of their people and equipment have already been moved off-world, and a large star destroyer just dropped out of hyperspace. It’ll be in orbit in a few hours.”

“That’s got to be the new imperial weapon.” Saw bent forward, slapping both hands on the holomap. “We need to get our forces off world, but we’re grounded so long as those star destroyers are above us.”

“New weapon?” Greez asked.

Saw grimaced. “We’ll explain it later, suffice it to say, it’s bad, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

Cere searched for an idea. “Could we get your people off world a few at a time? We could fit probably about 20 on the Mantis.”

Cal stepped forward. “No, it has to be done before that destroyer reaches orbit.”

Merrin’s eyes appeared in deep thought. “The Mantis, it can change its signal to appear as an imperial ship, can it not?”

Cere’s eyebrow raised. “What are you getting at?”

“If we could get the Mantis close enough, Cal and I might be able to get on board one of these imperial ships and disable it.”

Cal shook his head. “I don’t think that’s possible. These ships have a whole lot more troops in them than the encampment, and we’d get surrounded quickly as soon as the alarms went off. The element of surprise would wear off much quicker than it did last night.”

“Besides, we’d have to get WAY closer to one of those monsters to get you on board.” Greez’s voice came out strained. “It doesn’t matter what our transponder is sending out if everyone on that ship can see us.”

Cal looked to the nightsister beside him. “What about your teleport? Could you get us on one with that?”

Merrin looked at him, confusion etched on her features. “My what?”

“You know, you disappear and reappear somewhere else?”

Merrin realized what he had said. “Ah, my co-location spell. It will not work if I am unfamiliar with the area I wish to bind, and I cannot sense the area unless I am close to it.”

“Wait a minute.” Cere’s touched her chin thoughtfully. “That might not be a bad idea. We could rig the Mantis to look like a large transport ship and draw the destroyer away from you so you could launch.”

Greez waved his hands back and forth in displeasure. “Whoa whoa whoa, you want to be a decoy? Not in my ship you don’t!”

Cere looked down to the small Latero. “Do you have a better plan?”

Greez looked up, opened his mouth to say something, then shut it in frustration, throwing his hands up. “I’ll go get the transponder ready.” He shuffled off the holomap’s image.

Cal smiled at Cere’s image. “We’ll head back and meet up with you within a couple hours.”

Saw straightened up. “When you get out, meet us on the sixth planet in the Hoth system. We have a new patron that sent some equipment to build a base there. Good luck, and again, thanks for this.” He held out his hand.

Cal grabbed Saw’s wrist, allowing Saw to grab his. “We’re all in this together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took me a little longer than I wanted, I ended up having to combine two chapters in my outline because I just didn't have enough in each chapter to fill out, unfortunately. Not to long until we get to more action, though!  
> Again, thank you to everyone who is reviewing and leaving kudos! I'm so happy you guys like the story!


	7. Chapter 7

The top of the sun peaked just above the horizon, painting the sky in bright oranges, yellows, and pinks. Cal and Merrin approached the skiff they had piloted the last night, both grimacing slightly upon seeing the bloodstains they had left on the walls of the boat. Saw handed Cal a datapad. “This has the coordinates of our base’s location on Hoth. Meet up with us when you can, and good luck.”

“You too, Saw.” He turned toward the ship, then paused and turned back. “Oh, and Saw, could you do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“It’s a long shot, but if you have the chance, I’m looking for some information about a ship from the Clone Wars. I don’t know what it’s called, all I know about it is that it went to Dathomir around, what, six years ago?” He turned toward Merrin.

Merrin tried to keep the surprise off her face, but some still shone through. “Um, yes. About six years. It would have been a military ship, there was a Jedi, and many armed droids.”

“A Jedi with droids, during the Clone Wars?” Saw thought for a moment. “There aren’t too many ships that would make that trip, and even less with a crew like that. I’ll see what I can find out. Fortunately, our new patron has access to a lot of restricted information, I don’t think that’ll be too hard.”

“Who is this patron?” Cal asked. “He seems to be well connected and funded, if he’s able to set up an entire base of operations for you and have access to pre-empire information.”

“Bail Organa. He’s an imperial senator and husband to the Queen of Alderaan. He’s an ardent imperial supporter on the surface, but in secret he’s helping our cause.”

Cal just shrugged. “Lucky for us. I’m glad there are some imperials that don’t appreciate what’s going on in the galaxy.”

“Yeah, I won’t turn down the help.” Saw backed away from the skiff. “We’ll be waiting for your signal.”

Cal nodded and he and Merrin pushed the skiff back into the water before hopping on board, BD-1 immediately hopping onto the engine and activating it. The boat sped quickly from the shore as Saw marched back to his underground base. Cal sat near the front of the boat, keeping his eyes on the horizon. Merrin sat near the back, staring at the bloodstain near the engine. It wasn’t long until Cal’s eyes found her. “Are you okay?”

Merrin stayed silent for a moment before answering. “No.”

Her answer caught him off guard. He immediately turned toward her, giving her his full attention. “What’s wrong?”

“You have done nothing but try to make me feel welcome. You have used your pull with others for my benefit. And I tried to kill you on Dathomir.” Tears welled in her eyes. “You have said I have saved your life, but I also tried to take it.”

“That’s not your fault. Malicos lied to you about me.”

“I should not have believed him.” She wiped her eyes before the tears could fall. “I knew he was after power, I felt the darkness within him. And I believed him all the same.”

“Stop.” Merrin’s head snapped up to look at Cal, surprise and guilt written all over her face. Cal met her eyes, a hard purpose in his. “Stop blaming yourself for that. You had no reason to trust me, and you gave me ample warning. You told me to leave Dathomir, and I believe you would have let me go if I had agreed. I pushed forward.” He smiled slightly. “And as I recall, I threatened to strike you down too.”

Merrin let a smile break on her lips with a short laugh. “Well, I did have the nightbrothers and my sisters attack you.”

“You also warned me about that giant bat-thing.”

A small blush painted Merrin’s cheeks. “I still cannot believe you actually defeated the Gorgara. Though, I would not say that saying death awaits you really counts as a warning.”

“Well, it defeated itself. I just kind of… rode it into some rocks.”

She shook her head. “You have no idea how glad I am that I underestimated you.”

Cal let out a small laugh. “You have no idea how glad I am that you saw through Malicos’ lies and approached me when I came back to Dathomir. I don’t think I could’ve taken you both on.”

“You couldn’t take Malicos on by himself.” Merrin paused, embarrassment on her face. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“No, you’re right. If you hadn’t been there, I would’ve died. I had no idea how powerful he was.”

“Still, I know that my directness makes you and Cere and Greez uncomfortable. I should try to be more… diplomatic?”

Cal shook his head, the same wry smile on his face. “No, you should keep being direct. It’s a nice change of pace, and I want to know what you really think. You’re one of the few people I can really count on to always be unflinchingly honest with me. I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

Merrin could only smile her small, unpracticed smile that threatened to crack her face at him. “I do not deserve a friend like you.”

Cal returned the smile with as much warmth as he could muster. “You saved my life on Dathomir, and on Nur, and here, and you’ve challenged me every time I’ve needed to be challenged. You’ve helped me consider options I never would have thought of. It’s me who doesn’t deserve a friend like you.”

“Stop it.” She laughed. “Stop being so nice.”

He shrugged. “Can’t help it.”

The two rode in silence for a moment before Merrin broke it once more. “May I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“The lightsaber wound you suffered at the fortress, and escaping through the ocean. Can you tell me about it?”

Cal’s eyes snapped to her in surprise. “That’s quite a segway…”

“I do not mean to bring up something so unpleasant, but with your wound healed I thought now the best time to bring it up. I am curious about what you went through before I got there, since I could not be there with you.”

He hesitated for a moment. “It was agony. I could feel the heat of the saber scorching me from the inside, and even moving afterward was an exercise in pain.” He shuttered at the memory. “Then, when I broke through the hull of the fortress to escape into the ocean, when the saltwater touched the wound, it was like being filled with acid. I didn’t want to, but I lost most of my breath just from the shock right there. I knew I wasn’t going to last long like that, but Cere was knocked out by the blast, and she needed my rebreather more than I did.”

“You nearly drowned.”

“But you were there.” Cal stared into her eyes. “I’ll never forget that.”

“Cal…” Merrin scooted a bit closer to him, the same blush still on her cheeks.

“Merrin…” Cal leaned in a bit closer as well. BD-1 let out a string of beeps. Cal closed his eyes and took a deep breath in disappointment, silently chastising himself afterward for thinking anything of that exchange. “BD says we’re almost at the coast, we’ll be at the Mantis shortly.”

Merrin sat up straight, taking her original position, though sparing a glance at the droid that Cal could swear was a glare, though it disappeared as soon as it came. “I assume that we will leave the moment we board?”

“Cere said the ship’s been ready for takeoff since we left.” He took a deep breath. “The sooner this is over, the better.”

“Agreed.”

The skiff’s engines slowed as they reached the coast, the large wing of the Mantis sticking straight up acting as a beacon for them. They heard the familiar sound of sand crushed against the weight of the skiff as it skidded to a halt on the shore. The two hopped off the boat and made their way the short distance to their ship. Cere and Ortas waited for them at the bottom of the ramp. “Welcome back. We’re ready to go.”

Cal followed the two as they turned to lead up the ramp. “Let’s send the signal to Saw then to start his ascent.”

Merrin followed right behind. “Is this one coming with us?”

Ortas looked back at her, clearly trying to look confident. “I don’t have the option of getting back to our forces, so I’m hitching a ride with you guys.” Cal found his false bravado a bit amusing for such a large man. He noticed that Ortas had removed his helmet, allowing a mess of shaggy blonde hair loose.

Merrin seemed not to notice any change in his attitude. “Very well.” As the hatch to the ship closed, she moved silently past the group and took her seat next to the holomap.

Greez’s voice sounded from the cockpit. “We’re not gonna activate the transponder until we’re in low orbit, I want to have as much maneuverability as I can once we get the imps attention.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Cal went up to the cockpit and took his seat next to Greez. Cere entered right behind him, sitting at the com station, and Ortas stood in the doorway, gripping the top of the threshold. The high whine of the engines started and the ship shuttered to life, the beach falling away from the ship as it ascended into the air. “Where are we headed out from?”

Cere turned toward him. “We’ll come out of the atmosphere a few klicks away from the star destroyer positioned above us, and on the opposite side as Saw’s men. Assuming they give chase, it’ll give Saw exactly the window he needs to get out.”

“We got a couple seconds until we’re free of atmo.” Greez punched a few buttons on his console. “Kid, keep an eye on that scanner, I don’t want any unexpected surprises.”

Cal turned his attention to the monitor. “All clear so far.”

Cere turned to her station as well. “Setting up the transponder to send out the signal. Everyone prepared?”

Cal forced a nervous smile on his face. “Let’s give these guys a chase.”

“We’re clear of atmo.” Greez announced.

Cere placed her hand on the controls. “Activating in three… two… one…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn't stop. Next chapter soon. Also, I can't thank everyone for their support enough. I'm in love with this story, and I'm so glad you guys like it too.


	8. Chapter 8

The ship swerved violently from side to side, large red bolts of energy flying past the ship as the Star Destroyer gave chase. “Well it worked, they’re pissed off!” Greez complained.

“We’ve got incoming, a squadron of TIE fighters inbound!” Cal yelled, keeping his eyes on the sensor screen. “Intercept in thirty seconds!”

“That’s it, preparing the jump to hyperspace…”

Cal found panic in his voice. “No, Saw hasn’t broken atmo yet! He needs more time!”

“We don’t got any more time to give him, kid!” Greez reached up to the lever between the two when the ship shook violently, a loud explosion and a spray of gas sprayed from the rear of the ship. “What happened?”

“I’m on it!” Merrin’s voice echoed from the behind them.

Cal nearly turned around to see when the sensor display flashed at him. “Okay, Saw’s broken atmo, he’s at lightspeed!”

“Good, let’s get outta here.” Sweat formed on Greez’s brow as he jerked the controls around to steady the ship, Getting ready to hit light… Whoa!” He turned the ship suddenly. “Hold on, we gotta get away from these blasts!”

“There’s an opening at 15 degrees left, down 2 degrees!” Cal yelled out.

“I see it!” Greez threw his hand to the side, slapping a button and the ship lurched forward with sudden acceleration. “Okay, we’re clear!” He reached up to the hyperdrive lever and pulled it down. The stars in the view streaked, then they stopped as the ship violently stopped, electrical discharges moving through all the monitors in the ship as they shut off. Without warning, Cal’s stomach churned, and he floated off his chair. “What was that?”

“Ion blast, hit us dead center.” Cere pounded her fist against her controls, pushing herself out of her chair. “That opening was a trap, they took out all our systems, including gravity.”

The stars in the view port started to move backwards. Ortas was the first to speak. “What’s going on there?” He pointed to the view outside.

Cal looked out. “They have us in a tractor beam. They’re pulling us in.”

Greez put his head in his hands. “No no no no no this can’t be happening!”

“Calm down, there’s got to be a way to get out of this.” Cere turned to Cal. “Can we get our systems back up and running?”

Cal thought for a moment. “After an ion blast, we should just need a system restart, but I don’t see how we’ll have the power to escape a star destroyer’s tractor beam even with one, not to mention it’ll take at least an hour for the computer to reinitialize all our systems.”

“Get started, we’ll need those systems up when we escape from that ship.” She looked back to Ortas as Cal pushed himself down the length of the ship. “What can you do?”

Ortas shrugged, holding himself still at the doorframe. “I’m pretty good with a blaster.”

Cere nodded. “Okay, so what do they know about us?”

Cal floated down the hallway, watching Merrin swirling green flame around her hands, the same green flame surrounding a set of broken pipes broken through the wall of the ship as they were pushed back in by her power. “It doesn’t look like we had a hull breach.”

Merrin did not turn. “No, but the blast must have dented the wall. Fortunately it seems to have only affected the water system.”

“We’ll worry about that later. Give me a hand?”

Merrin looked at him and nodded, pushing off table she was gripping and flying into the ceiling. She let out a grunt as she bounced off it and flew toward the terrarium. Cal reached out with both hands, grabbing the dinner table with one and Merrin with the other. Her wide eyes met his. “Thank you.”

“Never been in zero g before?”

“No. It is a strange sensation. I do not like it.”

Cal gently threw her toward the engine room just before thrusting himself in the same direction. “Yeah, it takes a bit to get used to. Tighten your ab muscles and breathe deeply, it’ll help with your stomach turning over.”

She did as he said, breathing slowly in and out as she caught herself on the rear workbench. “That helps.”

Cal landed right next to her and pushed off to the ladder leading down and climbed over the railing. “Grab ahold of the auxiliary control panel, I’m gonna have you prime the batteries. Greez showed you that, right?”

“He did.” She grasped to the panel and began flipping switches that activated the battery ports. After a moment, the lights next to the switches turned one by one from red to blue. “Batteries are primed.”

Cal reached the bottom of the hyperdrive and pushed the lever to the main power core from on to off. “Okay, hold on everyone!” he yelled. He then pulled the level from off to on. The hyperdrive whined, the control panels came to life, and a strong force suddenly pulled down on everyone in the ship. Cal landed on his feet, though the force caused him to drop down to one knee and brace his landing with a hand. A bang sounded above him, and he saw Merrin, face down on the grating above him. “You okay?”

Merrin lay still for a moment. “Oooowww.” She pushed herself up, rubbing her face where a red imprint of the grating had left a fading mark.

Cal climbed back up the ladder to the main deck. “Sorry about that. Sudden gravity pull can be hard to deal with.”

“I imagine it will become easier the longer I spend in space.” The two rushed back out to the bridge, past the pipes Merrin had not completed working on which had begun spewing water vapor again.

“Do you two have any ideas?” Greez asked them desperately as they entered the cockpit. “Cause I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in an imperial torture chair.”

“Look on the bright side, it won’t be a very long life.” Ortas smiled at the four-armed pilot.

Greez glared at the large man. “You’re hilarious.”

“Fighting our way through them once they get us on board isn’t an option?” Cal asked.

Cere shook her head. “If we cause too much of a ruckus, they’ll just destroy the ship in their bay, with us on board.”

“I can use my cloaking spell, as I did at the fortress.”

“They already have us in a tractor beam, what is turning us invisible going to do?” Greez paced back and forth. “Come on, Greez, think…”

Merrin placed a hand on Greez’s shoulder. “I can use it on myself. Then, if you surrender, I can follow them back to their dungeons and release you.”

Cere looked to Cal and Ortas and smiled. “Then we get through the ship, disable that tractor beam, and get out of here.”

“Seems like a workable plan.” A violent jolt nearly knocked everyone off their feet, the star destroyer’s walls enveloping them as the ship was forced down in their cargo bay. “It’s what we’re gonna have to go with, we’re out of time.” He looked up to the droid on his back. “BD, go with Merrin. Get her through any locks she needs, and see if you can download the schematic of this ship. We’ll need them when we break out." BD-1 whistled and hopped off his back, scrambling onto Merrin’s as she flinched away from the climbing droid. Once BD-1 found its perch, the two looked at each other in silent agreement.

Cere turned to Greez. “Captain, open the doors. I don’t want to let them blast them open.”

Greez hesitated for a moment. “Okay.” He looked toward the Zabrak. “Merrin. Good luck.”

Merrin nodded. “To all of us.” She pulled out her crystal shard, staring at it and tensing her muscles. “Sisters, Mother, give me your strength…” Her and BD-1’s forms shimmered in green smoke, and they vanished.

Greez reached to his control pad and pressed the button for the door controls. Shortly after the hatch opened, and the ramp extended. Several stormtroopers with blasters raised rushed onto the ship. Cere raised her hands. “Okay, be cool, everyone.”

Two stormtroopers turned toward the cockpit and aimed their blasters at the group. “Don’t move!”

Cal raised his hands just after he noticed everyone else had. “We surrender.”

One of the troopers walked toward them, his blaster pointed right at them, and stopped a couple feet from Cal, looking down. “That’s a lightsaber. THERE’S A JEDI!”

Cal silently cursed. He had forgotten about his lightsaber. “Woah, hold on…”

The trooper stepped back. “DON’T MOVE, I’LL BLAST EVERY ONE OF YOU!” His hands and blaster shook, and Cal could tell he was terrified.

“I won’t. I won’t move.”

The trooper took one more step back. “Kay Ar, get the commander, we have a Jedi.”

The other trooper nodded and activated his com. “Commander, you better get in here, we found a Jedi.” Both troopers kept their blasters trained on Cal.

“It’s okay…”

The lead trooper tensed his blaster. “Quiet! Don’t move! Don’t speak!”

After an extremely tense moment, another trooper entered the Mantis, one that Cal recognized. One with black armor and a pair of electrobatons. His helmet turned toward the group and focused directly on Cal. “You.” He sauntered up just behind the lead trooper. “I know you. You were on Zeffo. You flooded the fortress on Nur.” Cal could hear the smile under his helmet. The purge trooper turned toward the lead trooper. “Take his lightsaber.”

The lead trooper turned toward the purge trooper. “Sir?”

“Take. His. Lightsaber.”

The lead trooper just stared at the purge trooper for a moment before turning back to Cal and inching toward him, his blaster still raised. “Okay, easy now. Don’t move. Don’t you move.” Cal stayed extremely still, focusing himself through the force to control the adrenaline coursing through his veins. The trooper got within lightsaber distance, and Cal remained still. The trooper reached down with his non-trigger hand, and unclipped Cal’s lightsaber from his belt. He then stepped backward until he was at the purge trooper, handing the lightsaber to him.

The purge trooper snatched the saber from his hand. “Coward.” He marched right up to Cal, his helmet within inches of Cal’s face. “Oh, yes, we’re going to have some fun, you and me.” He turned toward the now half a dozen troopers inside the Mantis. “Take the rest of them to the detention block.” He turned back toward Cal. “Bring the Jedi to the arena. I can’t wait to see this one break.”

Cal thought for a second before opening his mouth, saying a silent prayer hoping Merrin would understand his plan. “You think you’ll be a match for me? I don’t need a lightsaber to beat you. You better get all your friends if you want to take me on.”

The purge trooper laughed behind his helmet, a deep, throaty laugh. “Oh, that confidence. Breaking you’ll be more fun that I thought!”

“If you want a real challenge, you’ll want to keep that lightsaber close. Not that I’ll need it.”

The purge trooper again moved right up to Cal, his helmet nearly touching Cal’s face. “Oh, don’t you worry, I keep all the Jedi trophies I take. I have my own personal collection this’ll be going in.” He turned and waved forward. Move out, get these prisoners processed. I want the Jedi in the arena in ten minutes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that didn't go according to plan. I can't wait to get to the next chapter, I want to know how this is going to go. I have a basic outline, but there is SO MUCH I haven't figured out yet!


	9. Chapter 9

“Come on, Jedi, I was promised more than this!” The purge trooper brought his electrobaton into Cal’s stomach, causing him to double over, the trooper’s other baton striking him in the head. Cal counted himself lucky he set his batons to a lower setting. Still, the electricity coursing through him was causing him to move a bit more slowly than he would like. “You were supposed to be a challenge!”

Cal looked to the sadist in front of him, taking note of the several stormtroopers surrounding the two to watch the bout. They were armed with blasters, but they all seemed generally relaxed. He smiled at the purge trooper in front of him, tasting the air mix with the blood in his mouth. “Well, maybe if you didn’t hit like a toddler, I might be taking this a bit more seriously.” ‘Come on, Merrin, I can’t keep this up for much longer.’ He thought to himself.

The purge trooper stood there for a moment, stunned, before pressing a button on the side of his weapons over and over, the electric hum they made getting louder with every press. “You want me to hit harder? I CAN HIT HARDER!” He rushed forward, his weapons pulsing with sinister purple energy. Cal stood up straight and focused himself. He knew he couldn’t take more than one or two hits from the batons at full power before it killed him. He closed his eyes and allowed the force to guide him. The purge trooper swung, Cal could hear the lightning crackling in the air, he could smell the ozone. His eyes opened, and it was as though the purge trooper was moving in slow motion. He stepped to the side as the baton swung lazily beside him, stepping back as his second baton took minutes to arch toward him. His arm extended, and he used the force to push the trooper back. His reconnection to the force allowed him to regain in focus as though he had been meditating for hours, and the force pushed the trooper back, sending him colliding with one of the stormtroopers watching them. The trooper quickly scrambled to his feet. “Yes, that’s more like it. I want MORE!” He rushed toward Cal, completely ignoring the trooper he slammed into.

Cal kept himself calm and still until the purge trooper was back on him, swinging wildly. Cal could easily tell when each strike came, even his feints becoming painfully transparent to him. He sidestepped each attack, hearing the stormtroopers watching them comment. “He’s so fast!” “I can’t even follow it, how is he dodging like that?” “Could we hit him even without his lightsaber?” Cal found himself smiling, then immediately cursing as his ego allowed him to get reckless. The purge trooper’s baton brushed his side, and lightning coursed through him painfully. He jumped back, rolling out of the way of another attack, but the trooper was on him as soon as he rose. Cal pushed him back with the force, but the trooper was ready for it and slammed both his batons into the ground, stopping him from moving far. Cal could see several officers in the stands around the arena watching the fight, and he was certain the cameras on the walls were recording. He hoped they were broadcasting to the rest of the ship as well. As the purge trooper stood up, he began saying something, but a wave of nausea hit Cal hard as he heard voices screaming, a sound of pure terror and anguish, then suddenly, silence. He dropped to the ground.

The purge trooper walked up to him and kicked him in the ribs. “Hey, get up. We’re not done yet, you don’t get to die until I kill you.”

Cal grabbed his ribs and got to his knees. “What… what was that?”

The trooper simply stood there for a moment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re not getting out of this, I don’t care if you’re sick.”

The nausea began to subside, and Cal raised his hand. “Give me a second.”

The trooper paused, then laughed, swinging his baton down at Cal’s head. Cal rolled away as the baton grazed against his ear, the electricity bursting a blood vessel on his head. He could feel the blood trickle down the side of his face. “You want a second? I’ll give you something better!”

Cal breathed as the trooper ran at him, then lifted him up with the force. “Really? You couldn’t think up anything better than that?” He cocked his head. “You could’ve at least went with ‘I’ll give you a second beating’ or something like that.”

“Shut up, I don’t need to impress a dead man!”

“You see, now THAT was better.” Cal pushed his hand forward and threw the purge trooper away again.

“CAL!”

Cal smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, raising his hand and catching his lightsaber, having opened his senses the moment he heard Merrin’s voice. He felt a familiar heat behind him and knew she stood at his back, appearing in green flame. “I’m glad you’re here. You found my lightsaber?”

Merrin summoned green flame into her hands. “Right where that idiot said it would be, in his quarters. BD showed me the way.” BD-1 trilled happily and jumped onto Cal’s back.

The purge trooper stared at the two as Cal ignited his lightsaber and smiled at him. “So, you said you wanted a challenge?”

The purge trooper shook with rage. “KILL THEM! KILL THEM BOTH!” the stormtroopers behind him looked at each other for a moment before all but one dropped their blasters and grabbed the electrobatons at their hips and charged in.

Merrin waved her hand and green flame surrounded several of the stormtroopers’ helmets. They wobbled, and several of their electrobatons thrust out into each other, causing them to fall. The purge trooper ran directly toward Cal, swinging his batons one after another. Cal caught one baton in a parry, then used the momentum to parry the second immediately after, using the energy that knocked the purge trooper off guard to kick him in the helmet and arc his lightsaber up his entire body. The trooper landed on the ground in a crumpled mess, unmoving. Several bolts of green flame shot out, enveloping two troopers in green flame, and the stormtrooper that held his blaster fired off two shots, which Cal reflected into the last two charging stormtroopers.

The last stormtrooper looked at all the fallen soldiers and at the Jedi and Nightsister in front of him. “I… I can’t be the last one… This isn’t happening…”

Cal could feel his fear and recognized his voice, the trooper that took his lightsaber on the Mantis. He thought back to what Cere had taught him, raised his hand, and focused on using the force to confuse him. “You don’t want to fight us. You want to drop your weapon and run.”

The trooper hesitated. “You… YOU CAN’T MANIPULATE ME!” He fired. Cal instinctively raised his lightsaber and watched as the bolt bounced back and hit the stormtrooper in the throat. He flew back a meter and landed unmoving, his helmet bouncing away from his head, the straps cut away.

Cal looked down at the stormtrooper’s face, a kid a few years younger than him, fear and surprise etched onto his features, nearly hidden by a mop of straight black hair, frozen in death. He clenched his fist and averted his eyes. “He was just a scared kid, probably joined the Empire ‘cause he thought it was the right thing to do.”

Merrin grabbed his arm. “We cannot worry about this now, we must go. Cere and the others are already on their way back to the Mantis.”

Cal looked at her and nodded as alarms began to blare around them. They ran to the doorway on the other side of the arena, BD-1 wasting no time slicing into the access port to open the way. The two ran down corridors as Merrin chanted silently. “Sisters, Mother, lend me your strength…” Cal saw a green mist surround them as they ran. A pair of stormtroopers rounded a corner. Cal raised his lightsaber and was about to ignite it when Merrin’s hand forced it down. She shook her head at him, and the two stormtroopers ran right past them. When they were out of earshot of the troopers, he looked at her curiously. “I will keep us hidden. We are not far from the ship.”

They continued down the corridor quickly, Cal remembering the wave of nausea from earlier. “Merrin, did you feel that wave of…”

“Yes.” She cut him off. “I do not know what it was”

Cal decided not to press the issue. The two reached the hangar quickly, sharing a lift with a pair of stormtroopers who seemed to not notice their presence, and made their way back onto the Mantis when Merrin dropped the spell. Cal ran to the cockpit and saw Greez powering up the engines. “Did you guys take out the tractor beam?”

“It wasn’t even that hard, everyone was too busy watching your fight.” Greez punched his control panel and the ship thrust into action, accelerating out of the hangar as several stormtroopers carrying heavy weapons entered in. The ship cleared the star destroyer quickly and flew away. “I have to make new calculations for hyperspace. Kid, get on that scanner!”

Cal jumped into his seat. “They’ve already launched TIE Fighters, we’ve got to… oh no.”

Greez kept punching in commands to his terminal. “What?!?”

Cal collapsed in his seat. “Rishi. They… they used their weapon. There’s a giant scar in the planet. How many people died?”

Cere put her hand on his shoulder. “We can’t think about that now, we have to get out of here.”

Cal shook the anguish off and paid attention to the scanner. “Hard left now!”

Greez didn’t hesitate, the ship nearly missed by a volley of blaster fire. “Okay, I have the hyperdrive set, hang on!” He reached up and pulled the lever above his head. The stars in front of them turned into streaks, and the swirling light of hyperspace surrounded them. Greez let himself breath deeply. “I can’t believe we got outta that.” He looked over to Cal. “Hey, you got some serious moves, you know that?”

Cal couldn’t answer, he only saw the scar on Rishi. “There were large settlements in that area.”

“I know. I felt it too.” Cere sat back down in her chair.

Ortas spoke up. “It was a warning. That’s what happens if you support the rebels.” He shook his head. “The Empire does this kind of thing all the time. If you stand against them, no matter how benign you are, they come down on you with both feet.” The look of pain on his face told them he had personal experience with the Empire’s mercy.

Cal shook it off, knowing this wasn’t the time. “Where are we headed?”

“I dunno, first place I could calculate the route to. We won’t be in hyperspace long.”

Cal spun his chair around to look at everyone else in the ship. His eyes found Cere at the com station, Ortas holding onto the door’s threshold, and Merrin sitting in the operations position behind Greez, all looking frazzled, but none looking injured. “Is everyone okay?”

“Probably better than you.” Cere stood up and grabbed Cal’s face, turning it to one side. “That’s a nasty cut.”

BD-1 whistled and popped a healing stim out, which Cal caught and injected into his cheek. “I’ve had way worse. Besides, its another scar to add to the collection.” He looked all of them over. “I’m glad you’re all okay. How did you escape so fast?”

Cere smiled. “It’s all thanks to Merrin, actually. As soon as we were in the holding cells, she appeared and took out both of the guards before they could raise any alarms. Then she showed us the route to the tractor beam power unit and the hangar. Fortunately, they were right next to each other.”

Greez snorted in humor. “Well, they kinda have to be, what with the tractor beam bringing things into the hangar bay.”

Cere shook her head and laughed before looking back up to Merrin. “Thank you.”

Merrin nodded. “It was more BD than me, he showed me where that black-armored one took Cal’s lightsaber and where this arena was where they fought.”

Ortas smiled, shaking his head. “You guys are too much for me. You’re all so good.”

Cere regarded the Partisan, a large bear of a man. “Don’t sell yourself short. The way you tackled those two stormtroopers and slammed them against the wall, we wouldn’t have had any weapons at all if it weren’t for you.”

Cal nodded solemnly. “I wish I was better is all.”

The ship fell silent for a moment before Merrin broke it. “You are thinking of that one from the arena.”

“Yeah. I tried to get him to run, I could tell he wanted to…” Cal buried his face in his palms. “He was just a scared kid. And I killed him.”

Merrin stood and rushed to his side. “You did not kill him, you did all you could to save him. He shot at you.”

“I guess. And then Rishi…”

Greez interrupted. “Hold on, we’re coming out of hyperspace.”

Cere took her seat. “That was fast.”

“We were on a main hyperspace line, fewer variables to calculate. We shouldn’t stay here too long, though.” Greez pulled the hyperspace lever back and after a moment the hyperspace tunnel disappeared into streaking stars and a planet that grew immediately enormous in the window. The planet was colored in deep blues, greens, and rust reds. Greez started scanning the planet. “Okay, time to find out where we are…” An explosion rocked the ship, and the ship’s fire alarm went off. “What the, what was that?”

Cal turned and looked at the scanner. “TIE Fighter! It must have followed in our hyperspace wake!”

“Must be one hell of a pilot to pull that off…” Ortas turned and rushed toward the back. “I’ll put out this fire!”

“Hold on!” Greez turned his control stick hard, and the ship went into high-speed maneuvers. “Are there any asteroids around? We gotta lose this guy!”

Cal shifted his scanner to a wide angle. “Nothing around, can’t we fight back?”

“This is a yacht, kid, we’re no match for an Imperial fighter!”

“I saw you take one out on Bracca!”

“They didn’t know we were there, they got us beat in firepower and maneuverability!” Another explosion rocked the ship violently. “They’ve taken out two of our engines, one more and we’re finished!”

Cal looked at his scanner and brought up a visual of the TIE. “Try to keep us steady, I have an idea.”

“Whatever you’re doin’, you better do it fast kid!”

“Can I help?” Merrin yelled over the sound of grating metal and fire.

“Remember the bombs and the walker on Rishi? Same thing, on that TIE behind us!”

Merrin focused on the scanner below her, concentrating on the TIE fighter in the screen. “Asthuri…” Her hands glowed around the talisman she was holding. Another explosion hit the ship, and the window under their feet cracked. She fought past the distraction. “Asthuri mara….” In the scanner, the TIE fighter began to glow with green flame. Cal turned toward the back of the ship, closed his eyes, and reached out with the force. Another explosion rocked the ship, and a loud crash sounded from the rear. Then Cal saw it. His outstretched hand clenched into a fist, and one of the TIE fighter’s wings crumpled inward. The TIE fighter began to spin out of control, heading down onto the planet below. Merrin’s eyes popped open. “It is done!”

“Yes!” Cal turned back around, a smile on his face. “Got him! That TIE is done! It’s crashing onto that planet below us.”

“Don’t celebrate yet, kid, so are we!” Greez held his controls tightly as the planet below got bigger.

Cal looked at him, disbelief on this features. “What?”

“We lost two engines, we can’t escape the planets gravity! We’re going down!” Greez pressed a few buttons on his controls. “Hold on, this is gonna be rough!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When it rains, it pours. Also, pour one out for pervy the perv trooper. Seriously, though, I can't think all of you enough for all the love I'm getting for this story. Keep on reviewing, I'll keep on writing!


	10. Chapter 10

The Mantis shook like it was about to come apart as it descended into the atmosphere of the planet, miles and miles of ruins stretching out below them. A giant ruined city, lost to time, sprawled below them without end, green vegetation sprouting around rusted hulks. “Everyone better strap in! Hold on tight!”

Cal kept his eye on the scanner as he pulled his chair straps around him. “Come to the right, thirteen degrees. There’s a flat area of land we can use as a landing zone, and it’ll bring us down closer to the downed TIE.”

“You wanna get closer to that thing?”

“It might have parts we can salvage to repair an engine.” Cal turned to see Merrin and Cere strapping themselves into their seats.

Greez let out a breath. “Copy that…” The Mantis came down fast, drifted left on its final descent, and nearly broke its landing struts as it hit ground, bouncing everyone in the ship violently. When the Mantis finally came to a stop, he let out a small laugh. “Well, you know what they say, any landing you walk away from…”

Cal found himself laughing along with their daring pilot. “I can’t argue with that.” He turned toward the back of the ship, unstrapping himself. “Ortas, you back there?”

There was a moment of silence. “Are we stopped?” he yelled from the back.

Cal hopped out of his seat and walked to the engine room, where he saw Ortas gripping the railing next to the ladder for dear life, a small fire extinguisher in his hand. “Yeah, we’re on the ground.”

The large man let go of the railing, falling to the grating. “Fire’s out.”

“I can see that. Nice work.” He held out a hand, which Ortas took, and helped the large man up. “Come on, Let’s see if we can find out how bad it is.”

As the two reached the cockpit, they heard Greez swearing under his breath. He turned from his pilot’s seat and shook his head. “I figured out where we are. Taris.”

Cal looked around, seeing a look of confusion on Merrin’s face that likely mirrored his own. Cere, however, shared Greez’s look of trepidation. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Taris.”

“I’m not surprised.” Cere took her seat. “It was at one point the center of trade for the Old Republic, thousands of years ago. Then the Sith bombarded the planet. Now all that’s left is ruins and these things called Rakhghouls. They’re creatures that carry a deadly disease. If they bite you, you’ll turn into one and become a mindless predator.”

“If they don’t just rip you apart and eat you.” Greez hopped off his chair and started back toward the hyperdrive. “I’m gonna see how bad the damage is to the internals. The Mantis is telling me that we’ve suffered some pretty heavy damage to the hull and that two of our engines are out, so we’ll be here for a while to repair. At least with everything powered down, no one should be able to locate us easily.”

Cere smirked at the small pilot. “Greez, was that a hint of optimism I heard?”

He shrugged. “What can I say, you crazy people are starting to rub off on me.” He disappeared in back.

Cal laughed to himself. “Well, I’ll get outside and see what the damage looks like out there.”

Merrin stood. “I will join you, I wish to see how bad these cracks are.” She gestured to the windows on the floor of the ship.

Cere nodded. “I’ll see if I can’t locate that downed TIE. Most imperial tech sends out an automatic distress beacon when it gets damaged that badly.”

Ortas picked up one of the imperial blaster rifles from behind the door to the cockpit that Cal hadn’t noticed until now. “I’ll watch your guys’ backs. I’m not so good with mechanics.”

“I appreciate it.” Cal headed to the ship’s main hatch just as it opened and made his way down the ramp, Merrin and Ortas right behind him. “I’ll check the engines.” He said as he turned toward the rear of the ship.

“An entire panel has been blasted off, we will need to replace much of the water system before we use it again.” Merrin turned toward the nose of the ship, inspecting the damage the imperial fighter had done. “The windows did not take a direct hit, they should hold. I hope.”

“Good to know.” Cal yelled from the rear of the ship. “Engine two looks like it took a direct hit, it’s completely destroyed. The wing engine was only grazed, though, we can probably repair that here, assuming we can find the parts.”

Ortas paused from his lookout and turned to Cal. “And if we can’t?”

“Then I hope this planet has something edible on it.”

Merrin walked up next to Ortas, still looking at Cal. “Perhaps we can repair some of the parts from engine two and use them in the wing engine.”

“That’s a possibility, but the damage back here is extensive.”

Greez appeared at the top of the ship’s ramp. “Good news, the Hyperdrive checks out. The Mantis says we just need a plasma induction coil to get off this rock.”

“No, we need a guide vane too, I can see that from here.” Cal returned to the bottom of the ramp, joining Merrin and Ortas. “Hopefully that fighter isn’t completely destroyed.” He walked up to the top of the ramp and peaked his head in, looking toward the front of the ship. “Cere, any word about the location of the TIE?”

“I’m picking up its signal, but it’s very faint. I’m having trouble getting an exact location on it, there’s just too much debris in the way.” She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. “I know it’s to the southwest, and about four klicks away. BD should already have the information, I’ve tied him into the Mantis’ computers. I wish I could be more specific.”

“It’s fine, we’ll find it.” Cal turned around and smiled at Merrin and Ortas. “It looks like the TIE went down not too far from here. I’ll go find it and see what we can salvage off it. Ortas, you mind coming with?”

The blonde bear looked surprised. “You want me to go with you?”

“Yeah, we might need to carry quite a bit back with us.” His eyes found Merrin’s as he reached the bottom of the ramp to join them. “If this place really is as dangerous as Greez and Cere say it is, keep your eyes open. They’ll need your protection. Nothing we get from the fighter is gonna be worth anything if we lose the Mantis.”

Merrin stared into his eyes for a moment before nodding. “I will let nothing happen to them.”

“I know.”

She placed her hand on Cal’s shoulder. “Be safe. I can feel the darkness of this world.”

Cal’s hand found hers, holding it to his shoulder. “You know me.”

“This is what I am talking about.” She gave him a wary smile as he turned to leave, her hand dropping from his shoulder and Ortas following close behind.

The two walked slowly through the long grasses, moving around large jagged pieces of rusted metal half buried in the ground. Ortas was the first to break the silence. “So, uh, I wanted to ask, how do you know Saw?”

Cal looked back at the partisian, seeing him keeping his eyes on the land around them. He turned back to pay attention to where they were going. “We met on Kashyyyk. I helped take an imperial refinery there.” A low growl sounded in the distance, followed by a high-pitched shriek which echoed through the ruins. The two stopped for a moment to keep watch around them before continuing when nothing appeared. “What about you?”

“He came to Corellia to scout for volunteers, and I have no love for the Empire.”

“What happened?”

Ortas was silent for a moment. “My family were a bunch of Corellium miners. When the Empire took over, they installed ore quotas and slashed everyone’s pay. The miners stopped working. They didn’t get violent, they just went on strike. Didn’t stop the empire from declaring them all rebels and gunning them all down in cold blood. I would’ve died too if I wasn’t handing out fliers when it happened.”

Cal could only look at the large man with pity. “I’m sorry. Did anyone in your family make it?”

Ortas shook his head. “My uncle, but he’s high up in the Empire, and he didn’t care about my dad, or me. Said we had it coming for rebelling.”

Cal faced forward. “That’s just wrong. I can’t imagine someone turning on their family like that.”

Ortas let out a half-hearted laugh. “I guess you haven’t spent much time on the core worlds, huh? They’ve convinced everyone that anyone who stands against the empire is the enemy, even your own blood. You can’t even speak out against it or you get turned in for ‘re-education’.”

Cal could only shake his head. “I had no idea things were that bad.” Another screech sounded, echoing through the rusted hulks of broken metal they walked under and around. The two stopped to listen, but no more sound came out of the wilderness. After a moment, the two continued. As they continued on through the broken landscape, scampering and screeching and growling echoed through the ancient ruins periodically, encouraging them to move silently. Cal let out a long breath when they turned a corner and saw the TIE fighter, mostly intact, on the ground in a small clearing surrounded by broken walls and ancient buildings half collapsed around them. “There it is.”

Ortas hurried toward the fighter. “Nice, it landed in pretty good shape.”

Cal rushed forward and grabbed Ortas’ arm. “It’s in too good of shape. It didn’t crash, it landed. The pilot’s still alive.”

Ortas raised his rifle and scanned the dilapidated structures surrounding them. “He could be anywhere…”

“I know. Cover me, I’m going into that thing and shutting off its comm system.” Cal moved forward just fast enough for Ortas to keep up while keeping watch, jumped up to the top of the fighter, opened the hatch, and hopped in. As soon as he was in, BD-1 jumped off his back and jacked into its systems. A second later, the comm system shut down. The droid let out a low whistle. “Thanks, buddy. I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet, though. I get the feeling that pilot is closer than we think. I feel like we’re being watched.” He looked out the TIE’s viewport, saw nothing of note, and hopped out the top hatch, immediately being spurned on by the force to ignite his lightsaber and raise it up just in time to deflect a blaster bolt. Ortas immediately shot at the area where the bolt came from, and hit a chunk of rusted plasteel. Another bolt fired out, which Ortas barely dodged. He returned fire and hit a large vine climbing up a wall. Cal reached out with his senses. His eyes opened and he pointed to a section of wall further away than the blasts were coming from. “Head over there, I’ll hit the other side, we’ll flank him.”

Ortas nodded and rushed over to a large piece of plasteel in the middle of the clearing. Cal ran across the open field, deflecting two bolts with his lightsaber before hitting the wall. Ortas made it to the other side of the wall and ducked into the ruins. Cal slowly made his way around the outside wall, immediately stopping when he reached a broken piece of wall and the imperial pilot popped up and pointed a blaster pistol right at his head. Cal froze only for a moment before Ortas appeared behind the pilot, pointing his blaster at the black helmet in front of him. “Drop it.”

The pilot hesitated for a moment before the pistol dropped to the ground. Cal bent over the short remaining wall and picked it up. “Okay, let’s go.” He motioned for the two to follow him as he turned and walked back to the fighter. “So, out of curiosity, what was your plan? Shoot us then starve to death on this world?”

The pilot said nothing. Ortas pushed the imperial forward. “At least tell us who you are. And take off that damned helmet. It’s like talking to a statue.”

Again, the pilot said nothing, and made no motion to remove the helmet. “Fine, we’ll secure you to some of this grating while we cannibalize your ship.”

The pilot slowed, head rolling in defeat, and she took her helmet off, dark hair spilling out of the helmet and framing her face, half covering a long scar that traveled from her forehead across her eye and down her cheek. “LN-827, Imperial Navy. That’s all the information you’re getting out of me.”

Cal only shrugged. “Don’t much need information, we just don’t want you shooting at us anymore. I was just asking what your plan was out of curiosity.”

Her eyes rolled in annoyance. “Kill you, reactivate my beacon, get picked up by an Imperial rescue. It’s not that hard to figure out.”

“Maybe we should just leave you for the…” Ortas’ voice trailed off as he stared at the top of one of the buildings.

Cal noticed and stopped. “What is it?” He looked to where Ortas was focusing his attention. Several creatures, bipedal and covered with rotting bone-white skin, long claws adorning their large misshapen hands, stood at the top of the building, several more of the same creatures appearing from around the walls. One let out a piercing shriek. “Oh, that’s not good.”

LN’s eyes went wide. “Give me back my blaster.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Cal extended the second blade of his lightsaber. “Stay between us!”

“They must’ve been lured here by the sound of the blaster fire!” Ortas raised his blaster and fired, hitting a Rakhghoul between the eyes. Its head snapped back, and slowly fell back down, a smoking hole left where the blaster hit. It let loose a feral roar and all the creatures charged in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, I had to get prepared for evacuation with all the wildfires in my area. I live less than a mile from an evacuation zone. Fortunately, I got lucky and the fires bypassed me completely. Others weren't so lucky.


	11. Chapter 11

LN shrank back behind Cal and Ortas. “Don’t let them touch you!”

Cal looked back at her for a moment, noting the terror on her face, and stepped forward, using the force to shove all the creatures back and knock them off their feet. “What will happen if they touch us?”

LN took another step back. “If they so much as scratch you, you’ll turn into one of them.”

Cal and Ortas looked at each other for a moment before Ortas raised his blaster and loosed several bolts into the lead Rakhghoul as soon as it found its feet again, knocking it back with every bolt. The last bolt blew the creature’s arm completely off. It shrieked and charged forward, undeterred by the loss of the limb. His eyes went wide and he stepped back. “Please tell me you have some kind of Jedi thing up your sleeve.”

Cal gauged the situation for a split second before rushing forward. “Stay behind me, and if I die, take the imperial and get back to the Mantis!” He stopped a few steps away from the lead monster and stopped in his tracks, watching their movements closely. One rakhghoul reached him and swung a large clawed hand out in a wild strike, a foul-smelling ichor flying off its claw tips. Cal knew he would need his focus, and allowed the force to guide his body, dodging the strike at the very last second in a burst of speed. The second foe appeared right at his side, lunging forward with a bite, its jaw distending and tearing open the flesh at the sides of its mouth to reveal rows of rotting, jagged teeth. It clamped down with a sickening crunch just as Cal sidestepped the second attack. The other creatures rushed toward him. The first one swung with its other claw, its arm getting severed at the elbow with Cal’s parry as a third one jumped over him and lunged at him from behind, his claw catching Cal’s sleeve and tearing it open as he ducked out of the way. The second monster lunged in as well, attempting to grab hold of his arms, a piercing shriek screaming out its mouth as it went in for another bite. Cal ducked down, raising up his lightsaber and catching the rakhghoul between the legs and pushing up, splitting it in two. As the two halves fell to the ground in a crumpled and charred mess, another mound of pale wet flesh immediately took its place. Blaster bolts hit one of the creatures near him, staggering it, and Cal saw his opportunity. He allowed his senses to flare out, and grabbed everything around him with the force, pulling it all in toward him in a stunned skid. Before any of the rakhghouls could react to the sudden force against them, Cal ignited the other end of his lightsaber, swinging it in a wide arc, spinning to extend the arc, then flicked his wrist and let go of the weapon, allowing it to spin as he willed it to circle him in a whirlwind of light. The blade sliced through the flesh of these creatures as though it were not there, leaving nothing in its wake except a pile of severed limbs and scorched masses of flesh. Cal caught his lightsaber and exhaled, exhausted. He spun it around instinctively as one of the dismembered rakhghouls’ arms reached up to him, the severed head and arm crawling forward just to get sliced in half. Cal jumped back, looking at the now unmoving pile of flesh that was surrounding him. That was when the smell hit him, charred flesh, bile, and disease. He backed away further, until he was next to Ortas and LN.

Ortas could only let out a surprised laugh. “Wow. I mean, I’ve heard stories about the Jedi, but to see one in action…”

Cal looked at the two, a cocky grin on his face. “Well, let’s just hope that’s the last of them.” His eyes met LN’s, and his smile faded. LN looked at him with disdain. “You’re welcome.”

LN looked away in disgust. “I didn’t ask you to do anything, traitor.”

Ortas rolled his eyes. “There’s gratitude for you.”

Cal shook it off. “How did you know anything about these things?”

LN hesitated for a moment, but then rolled her eyes. “The empire tried to build a base here about a year ago. It got totally overrun in a week. I saw what happens when someone tries to fight these things.”

Ortas stared at her in shock. “You were here?”

“And if you want to survive, I suggest you leave as soon as you can.”

Cal walked over to the fighter. “Well, then I guess we’d better get an induction coil out of this thing.” He looked back to LN. “You wouldn’t know where it is, would you?”

LN glared at the Jedi, a shriek in the distance making her jump a little. She sighed in resignation. “The rear bottom hatch will give you access to all the ship’s electronics. The induction coil is above the hatch, and to the left.”

“Thank you.” He looked underneath the fighter, pulled out his multitool, opened the hatch with it, and began working on the guts of the TIE fighter.

Ortas motioned to a rock next to LN with his blaster. “Have a seat.”

LN slowly took a seat on the rock. “So, a rebel and a traitor. What were you two doing on Rishi?”

“Fighting against the tyranny of the Empire.” Ortas spat. “What were you doing there?”

LN glared at the man. “I was fighting for the safety and security the Empire provides against people like you.”

Ortas looked disgusted. “Safety? Tell that to the people killed by the Empire for even speaking out! Tell that to the people enslaved by the empire to build their military! Tell that to the millions on Rishi your fleet just slaughtered to prove a point!” He struggled to hold back the volume of his voice.

LN stood up, fury in her eyes, the top of her head only coming up to the middle of his chest. “I won’t listen to your lies! You rebels supported the separatists! You killed millions in your damned secession! If it weren’t for you, my family would still be…” She clamped her mouth closed and turned away, tears brimming in her eyes that she refused to let fall.

Cal ran up to the two, a large cylindrical piece of metal with red crystalline veins running down the sides. “Okay, I have what we need. Let’s get out of here before more of those things come back, or you two end up shooting each other.” He started back toward the Mantis, Ortas motioning for LN to follow him. She did, and Ortas fell in line behind her. As the three walked, Cal kept his eyes out on the buildings. “I’m not a traitor, you know.”

“You’re a Jedi. All Jedi are traitors.”

Cal stopped in his tracks and looked back at the Imperial pilot. “What do you know? The Jedi were the ones betrayed, we weren’t the betrayers.”

“So a traitor and a liar.” She looked back and forth, refusing to meet Cal’s eyes. “Your Jedi could’ve stopped the Trade Federation and their secession movement at any time, but you just let them wage their war. You let them burn Naboo.”

A look of realization came over Ortas’s face. “That’s what happened, isn’t it? Your family was killed in the siege on Naboo.” LN closed her eyes and breathed heavily. Ortas took one step closer to her. “I know what it’s like to lose your family.”

LN turned and backed away from him, her eyes reflecting hate. “You know nothing, rebel!”

Another shriek sounded from around them. Cal scanned the area. “Maybe we should continue this at the Mantis.” He continued forward, staying silent and periodically looking behind him to make sure that Ortas and LN were still following. BD-1 brought up the holomap a few times when Cal made a wrong turn, but within a few minutes the Mantis came into view, several desiccated corpses of what were at one point rakhghouls littering the ground, and Merrin standing close to the Mantis’ ramp, breathing heavily, sweat glistening on her brow. Cal rushed over to her. “It looks like you ran into trouble too.”

“Nothing that could not be handled. Cere and I made short work of these abominations.” She looked the Jedi over. “You are unhurt?”

“Just a tear in my shirt.” He held up the metal cylinder. “And I got what we need.”

Merrin looked behind him, noticing the two that followed. “It appears you acquired more as well.” She looked over LN. “New friend?”

“Prisoner.” Cal moved to one side, allowing Ortas to sit her down next to the ship. “She piloted the TIE fighter that shot us down.”

Merrin looked back to Cal. “I see. It would appear though that we have bigger problems at the moment than a pilot without a ship.”

Ortas sat down close to the imperial, keeping his blaster up. “Yeah, but when we do get out of here, we’ll be able to get some good information from her.”

LN snorted. “It doesn’t matter how much you torture me, I won’t give you anything.”

Ortas simply shook his head. “We’re not going to torture you.”

Greez appeared at the top of the ramp. “Please don’t tell me there are any more of those mons… Cal! Boy am I glad to see you. Did you get the part?”

He handed the coil to the four-armed pilot. “Yep, here you go.”

Greez took it and looked it over. “Amazing work. I’ll get this installed right now, somehow. You didn’t find a guide vane too, did you?”

“No luck, I think TIE fighters rely on their gyroscopics to maneuver.” Cal’s head turned to the rear of the ship. “Any luck with harvesting one from engine two?”

“Afraid not. Even with all the damage, they’re just too big to fit inside the wing engine.” Greez raised the part in his hand. “It should only take me a couple hours to get this working, then we should be able to lift off. I hope.”

Another shriek sounded from just outside their landing zone. Merrin let out a tired sigh. “They are endless.”

Cal noticed the strain in her voice. “Are you good?”

“I will be. My magic is getting much more difficult to control, however. I have not been able to tap into the power of this world.”

“So you’re getting as tired as I am.” Cal faced back forward and drew his lightsaber once more. He tried to focus, but his connection to the force was strained. He focused outward, noticing Ortas appear beside him, blaster ready. The three of them scanned the area around the landing zone, hearing another shriek. Without warning, a dull, wet impact sounded from Cal’s left. He turned, and his blood went cold. LN-827 dropped a bloodied stone as she ran, Merrin falling to the ground with blood oozing out of the wound on her head where she was just hit. His eyes went wide, and he ran toward the Nightsister, dropping to his knees and skidding to a halt right next to her. “MERRIN!”

Merrin lay still for a moment before turning slightly and groaning in pain. “Cal…”

BD-1 immediately ejected a healing stim toward Merrin, which Cal caught in pressed into the side of her head. The bleeding slowed, and she seemed to relax just a little. Cal looked over to the edge of the field they had landed in, saw LN running back in the direction of her TIE fighter, and saw red. “You hurt her…” Without warning, rage exploded in his mind and his head began to pound painfully. He reached out with the force and hit LN, sending her spiraling to the ground face first. With the flick of his wrist, he picked LN up and drew her to him, sending her flying back toward the group, only stopping to be held in midair right in front of him. She looked down at him with hate and fear and anger on her dirtied and bloodied face. “You don’t get to hurt her…” He clenched his fist, and her throat pinched in on itself. She began grasping at her throat as she tried to breath, all the emotions on her face replaced with panic and pain. Her legs kicked out wildly as Cal choked her. There were voiced around him, but he heard none of them. All he knew was he would make her pay for hurting Merrin. LN’s eyes started to roll back as her lips turned blue, a large purple bruise appearing around her neck where the Force held her.

“CAL!” Merrin’s voice pierced his rage. He looked to her. "I am alright, Cal." Blood stained the side of her face, and she held her head as though still in pain, but she looked at him with fear in her eyes, fear that he was losing himself, and then he realized. He felt the Force coursing through him. The dark side of the Force. It had found a way into his heart, and it came in like a tsunami, overwhelming everything else within him. He immediately cut himself off, pushing down all his rage, his anger, everything.

LN-827 fell to the ground in a heap, gasping for breath and coughing violently. Ortas and Cere were already surrounding the two. Cere had rushed out from the Mantis, knelt down next to Merrin, and looked up to him with pity and understanding on her features. Ortas knelt down beside LN, helping her to sit up and inspecting her neck. “What did I do…” he whispered to himself. He looked down to the imperial pilot, realizing what he had almost done. “I didn’t mean…”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she screamed hoarsely. She cowered away from him, shoving herself behind Ortas.

Cere put a hand on Cal’s shoulder. “Come on, help me get Merrin inside.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this one was difficult to write. Thank you so much to everyone who is reading, and to everyone who is leaving these amazing reviews! And also thanks everyone for all the well wishes with all the fires that are going on right now. They've basically stopped in my area, but it was a harrowing few days.


	12. Chapter 12

The Mantis lifted off the ground. Cal was grateful that Greez could fit into the small spaces in the ship and was able to get to the wing engine from inside. His tryst with the dark side had left him exhausted and filled with self-doubt, and Merrin had remained down laying on the couch right next to the small kitchen the ship boasted, unable to stand or sit up without getting dizzy. Cere had guessed she had a mild concussion. With only Ortas and Cere there to protect the ship, they sealed the ship up once everyone was inside and Greez repaired the engine from the crawlspaces. Rakhghouls had appeared in the landing zone they inhabited, letting out shrieks that pierced through the hull. While the ship was sealed, though, they had seemed to have no interest in it. LN-827 lay in the back, a wrist tied to Cal’s cot in the engine room, Ortas sitting across from her to guard her. Cal sat on the floor next to the couch, keeping a close watch on Merrin. As the ship rose into the air, it swayed from side to side, the remaining engines trying to compensate for the lack of controlled thrust while inside the atmosphere. It took less than a minute to reach space, but Cal already felt airsick from the experience.

“Okay, we made it, and it doesn’t look like any imperial patrols made it here yet.” Greez’s voice sounded from the cockpit, filled with relief. “Get ready, I’m making the jump to hyperspace.”

A small shake later, and the white blue tunnel of hyperspace filled the windows around them. Merrin looked up at him from her place laying on the couch. “I am not badly hurt, Cal. You should rest.”

Cal nodded. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you.” Her voice came out slow, tired.

“Cal.” Cere approached from the cockpit. “She’ll be okay. Once we get to Saw, I’m sure he’ll get a medic to look her over.” Cal could only nod. “Can I talk to you?”

He looked up to her, hesitated for a moment, but stood and followed her to the holomap, looking back toward Merrin as he left. Her eyed remained mostly closed. “Is she going to be okay if she falls asleep?”

“Yes, the blow wasn’t as bad as it looked.” Cere placed a hand on his shoulder and sat him down on the seat, taking the one next to him. “She’ll be fine. But I’m worried about you.”

Cal looked away. “I’m fine.”

“I saw what you did, what you tapped into. I felt it surge through you.” Cere’s eyes closed as her face fell. “I know you’re not fine.”

Cal buried his face in his hands. “It just hit me so hard. I didn’t expect that much power, it just rushed through me.” He looked up at Cere, who was now staring right at him. “And the worst part, while it was happening it felt right. I felt justified. I almost killed that girl.”

“But you didn’t. You took control. You didn’t kill her.”

Cal’s face found its way back into his hands. “I sure hurt her, though. Now I can’t even go near her. She’s terrified of me, and I don’t blame her.”

“She’ll get through it, she’ll heal.”

“But how are we supposed to defeat the Empire if I’m acting just like them?”

“Cal, YOU aren’t going to defeat the Empire. You made a mistake, a bad one. But it was a mistake. You let the dark side in, but you didn’t surrender to it.”

Cal took a deep breath. “At least I understand a little why you had cut yourself off from the Force. It was too much power. You could do anything with it. I was struggling to focus before it, but my rage gave me so much power. I never want to lose control like that again.”

“I wish I could say you won’t. But the dark side is always there, pushing us to give in, to take the easy path, to think that we have the right to do what we want because we have the power to do it. I don’t know any Jedi before the purge that was completely free of it, and you live in a much harder situation than most of them ever faced. Especially since your rage is fueled by love.”

Cal’s head popped up as he stared at Cere. “Wha… what are you talking about?”

Cere’s looked at him as though to say ‘are you kidding me’. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Cal, I see the way you look at her, like she’s the most precious, most beautiful person in the galaxy.”

He looked to the floor. “I know. I know I’m not supposed to have any attachments. Master Tapal always told me to let go of the things I feared to lose, and when I think about losing her...” His hands balled into fists.

“That’s why Jedi are taught to abandon attachments. It’s why attachments lead to the dark side. Opening yourself up to those feelings is extremely dangerous for a Jedi. That’s why, when Trilla…” Cere’s words caught in her throat. “When they turned her, Cal, I loved her like a daughter. She was my first apprentice, and I failed her, and when I saw what they did to her, what I caused…” She looked away. “I just want you to be careful, Cal. Love is one of the most primal feelings, and it can overwhelm you quickly.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Confusion came over her face. “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”

“She won’t return any feelings I have for her, other than friendship. I need to put it out of my mind.” He looked up at Cere, tears briming in his eyes. “I need your help to accept being just her friend.”

Cere nodded. “I’ll help you in any way I can, though I’m not sure why you think that she wouldn’t share your feelings.”

Cal’s shoulders slumped, and a tear fell down his cheek. “You heard her talk about Ilyana. How could she be interested in me?” He wiped his face with his sleeve and looked back to the ground. The two sat in silence for a moment before Cal broke it once more. “Have you ever been in love?”

“Yes.” Cal’s eyes met hers as she let out a breath. “A long time ago, I met Master Cordova’s apprentice before me. Pailo Tenembris. He was a few years older than me, but he was very handsome, and brave, and he really knew how to make me laugh. His tribal tattoos were also really cute, I can see why you like Merrin’s.”

Cal found himself cracking a smile even through his tears. “Was he zabrak too?”

“Miriallan.”

Cal thought for a moment. “Right, green skin, diamond tattoos?”

“That’s them. Pai was gifted in the use of the force, he could feel the force concentrating in areas. Master Cordova used to call him his temple finder.” She let out a small chuckle. “He was always so dashing. Master Cordova invited him along on a dig in the Rudaris system, there was an old Mirakulan temple there, from before they joined the Republic. We spent months in that old site, just the three of us. I remember wanting to sneak away with Pai most nights.”

“Did you ever tell him how you felt?”

Cere shook her head. “No, but Master Cordova knew. He advised caution to me just like I am to you. After the dig, though, the Clone Wars really broke out, and Pai went to fight.” Her posture fell. “I learned a year or two later than his unit was destroyed in a battle somewhere in the mid rim, and he had been killed. I was so angry at the separatists, and I begged Master Cordova to let me go and join in the war. He forbade it.” She looked back up to Cal. “He was right, I was letting my anger rule me, but it was hard to hear at the time. I wanted so badly to hurt those who had taken Pai away from the galaxy. When I close my eyes, I can still see his smile.”

“Yeah.” Cal’s eyes returned to the floor. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

“I’m not. I learned a lot about myself and what I can handle.”

Merrin let out a small pained moan from the couch. Cal immediately stood up and faced her, catching himself and stopping. “Merrin…”

Cere stood and patted him on the shoulder. “She does better when you’re around. Go, be her friend.”

Cal turned, smiled at her, then walked to Merrin and knelt beside her. “Are you feeling any better?”

Merrin groaned. “No, I am still very dizzy. It is worse when I close my eyes.” Her heavy-lidded eyes found Cal’s. “What were you and Cere talking about?”

A small blush formed on his cheeks. “We… we were talking about when I lost control. About what happened when I let the rage move through me.”

Her eyes left him. “I hated seeing you like that. It was like you were not you anymore.” Her eyed met his again. “You looked like a nightbrother when you were filled with rage. You looked like Malicos.”

Her words felt like a punch in the gut. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t…”

Merrin struggled to one side and reached out, grabbing Cal’s hand and holding it. “You didn’t revel in it, Cal. You didn’t let it control you. The nightbrothers, Malicos, even some of my sisters, they all held on to rage. They claimed the power even as it consumed them. You deny it, even when it overwhelms you. You are not like them.” A small, pained smile appeared on her lips. “Besides, you were defending me when you attacked. How could I not appreciate that?”

Cal returned her smile, though his was tainted by sadness. “Still, with everything she had been told about us while in the Empire, I can understand why she’d want to escape. She probably hates us just as much as we hate the Empire.” His smile disappeared. “It just keeps going in a cycle, doesn’t it? They hate us, so we hate them, and that justifies their hate for the next generation, and on and on it goes.”

Merrin squeezed his hand. “There is power in hate. Many are seduced by it. I nearly was, when Malicos told me you were responsible for the death of my sisters. My hate fueled my magic, even more than the power of Dathomir. It is how I was able to raise all my sisters to attack the both of you.” Her hand squeezed his even tighter. “But you brought me out of it. You showed me a better way, and I will always be grateful to you for it. It is in this way you remind me of Ilyana.”

Surprise took over Cal’s features. “What? How?”

“Ilyana was the only one who truly understood me. My sisters, they were all infatuated with power and strength, much like the nightbrothers are. This is why we stayed on Dathomir and rejected the rest of the galaxy. But I was always gentler than my sisters. Mother Talzin used to call me a soft-hearted fool, and my sisters all tried to get me to embrace the power of Dathomir. Only Ilyana understood me. She protected me, guarded my weakness. I loved her more than anything. She loved me too, in a way.”

“What do you mean, in a way?”

Merrin took a deep breath, her eyelids getting heavier. “Ilyana was much older than me. She was as I am now when we were attacked. But we had a connection. We both wanted peace. Neither of us cared about power, we only wanted love.” Her eyes clamped shut, tears forming in them.

Cal moved a bit closer to her, raising their hands to her chest and squeezing her hand himself. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say any more.”

Her eyes opened, and a tear escaped. “I am so glad to be here. I know you do not truly trust me, but I feel more at home here than I have in a very long time.”

Cal frowned at that statement. “Why do you think we don’t trust you?”

Merrin slowly shook her head. “That is not what I mean. But Greez is still afraid of me.”

The side of his mouth twitched up into a half-smile. “Well, you do egg him on sometimes…”

“It is fun to make fun of him. But you and Cere believe my magic is evil. She is always guarded around me, and I can see the way she disapproved whenever I talk of a ritual or a spell. And you, I can feel you guarding yourself around me every time you are near.”

Cal’s shoulders fell as he realized that his feelings for her were convincing her that he didn’t trust her. “Merrin, that’s not… I don’t…”

“It is okay, Cal. I can wait for you all to get used to my magic. I still am wary of your Jedi power too, after all.”

“No, Merrin, it’s not that… it’s just…” He looked her over. Her eyes were almost completely closed, and her entire body looked relaxed. He smiled. “It’s nothing. You should get some sleep.”

Merrin smiled up at him. “I… do not think… sleep will be a problem…” Her eyes slowly shut completely. Cal sat down next to her, releasing her hand as she drew it to her chest, and leaned back against the side of the couch. He hadn’t realized how tired he had gotten until he was relaxing next to the woman he had dreamed about so often. He looked at the terrarium next to him, his eyes finding the Bonshyyyr tree. “That’s right, I was going to show you the Shyyyo. We’ll have to do that soon.” With that thought, he drifted to sleep, dreams of riding on the giant bird with Merrin over the wilds of Kashyyyk filling his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone so much for all the reviews! I'm glad I made the OC's believable and that you guys like them, though they are going to remain minor characters, I think. We'll see, though, this story has already changed so much from the outline I originally drafted for it. I'll get the next chapter out soon!


	13. Chapter 13

Hoth appeared in front of the Mantis as it dropped out of hyperspace, a large ball of ice floating in space. “They built their base here? The temperature is reading at way below freezing, even in direct sunlight!” Greez pushed down on his control stick. “At least their base is well hidden. I wouldn’t have even seen it if I didn’t know what I was looking for, and where to look.”

“That’s good, Saw’s forces’ll need it to stage their missions.” Cal got up out of the seat next to Greez and looked back to the couch. Merrin still lay on it, her chest rising softly as she slept. “How long until we land?”

Greez turned toward the communications station. “Cere?”

Cere held a headset up to her ear. “Hoth station, come in, this is the Mantis. We are requesting permission to land.”

A woman’s voice sounded on the cockpit’s speakers. “Good to see you, Mantis, you are clear for landing pad two.”

“Copy that, we’re on our way down.”

“Okay, grab some seat.” Greez pushed on his controls as the Mantis descended into Hoth’s atmosphere. “It’ll be a bumpy ride with one and a half engines.”

Cal took his seat next to Greez, and Ortas appeared at the rear of the cockpit, gripping the door’s threshold. The descent into the atmosphere was choppy, though Cal had to give Greez credit as the Mantis found a wind vein in the air and rode it down to the hidden base below. The ship touched down, and the landing nearly bounced everyone out of their seats. Cal immediately looked back past Ortas to see Merrin awake, jolted by the landing, but still on the couch. She held her head, but looked less disoriented than she had the day before. As the ship’s hatch opened and the ramp extended to the ground, a number of partisans approach the ship in heavy winter clothing led by Saw Gererra as a bitterly cold wind rushed into the ship. When Cal reached the ramp, Saw raised his hand in a wave. “Glad you made it here. When we didn’t hear from you right after we left, we feared the worst.”

“We ran into a little trouble.” Cal descended down the ramp holding Merrin’s shoulder to steady her. “We have a couple injured people, if you could help.”

“Of course. We’ll take care of them… who is that?”

Ortas exited the ship right behind LN-827, her hands bound in front of her imperial pilot uniform, a healing but angry purple and green bruise around her neck and a look of defeat on her face. “We captured an imperial pilot. She was a part of the armada around Rishi, she might have useful information.”

Saw approached the two. “Good work, soldier. It shouldn’t take long to extract what we need.”

Ortas placed a hand on LN’s shoulder. “With all due respect sir, I assured her she wouldn’t be harmed.”

Saw’s eyes darted to Ortas’, his eyes narrowing. “She’s an imperial, and we need any intel she has quickly.”

“And we’ll get it, but we need to get it the right way, by showing her that we’re not the same as them.” Ortas spoke softly, but his tone was unwavering.

Saw stared holes into him for a moment, only speaking after Ortas refused to flinch. “Fine. She’s YOUR responsibility then.”

Ortas led LN past Saw and the other Partisans, holding her fast as they passed Cal and she flinched away from him. “Let’s get the medics to look you over.” The two disappeared into the base as Cal approached Saw, his face fallen into guilt.

Saw spoke first. “It looks like you saw some action, your ship is in pretty rough shape.”

“Yeah, we could use some repairs, and Merrin needs a head wound looked at too.”

“We’ll get it done. I know my engineers are looking for a way to pay you back after you saved us back on Rishi.” He turned and led all four Mantis crew members into the large open hangar door. “Our base may not be much to look at yet, but it’s a lot warmer than out here.”

“How did you get so much excavated so quickly?” Greez looked around the empty hangar in awe.

“A small army of construction droids were sent here ahead of us. They’ve done good work, but there’s a lot of work yet to do.” Saw led the group to a pair of medical droids in an empty part of the hangar.

Merrin sat down on a bench next to one of them. “Thank you for the help.” One of the droids immediately began inspecting the cleaned cut on her head. She turned to it. “I am feeling much better, but I still am dizzy when I stand or sit up.”

The droid raised a needle attachment on its arm. “You have a minor concussion, I am administering a regenerative agent. Please hold still.” The needle poked her in the head just above her ear. “Total regeneration should occur in a few minutes. Please stay still until the process is complete.”

Saw leaned against the wall next to the bench Merrin sat on. “Did you hear about what happened to Rishi after we left?”

Cere nodded. “Yeah, we were there.”

Saw was taken aback. “You were there? Did you get any scans of the weapon or what it did?” His voice came out impatient, eager.

“Yeah, we have a full recording of it and the scans taken by imperial sensors.” Cal patted BD-1 on the head. “BD here downloaded them on our way out of the Star Destroyer.”

“You were in a Star Destroy…” Saw cut himself off. “It doesn’t matter. Can you give us those scans?”

BD-1 whistled. Cal smiled, though the smile never found his eyes. “BD says he’s connecting with your computer system now and transferring them directly.”

Saw let out a long breath. “That’s great work you guys did there, we’ve been trying to get some kind of proof of this thing for a while now. But now that we have it, I need to ask you another favor.”

“Oh, come on, how long is this gonna go on?” Greez complained. “My ship’s been all shot up because of all this nonsense.”

“My engineers are already working on the Mantis, we’ll get you completely repaired. But once that’s done, I need you to get to Alderaan and give this information to Bail Organa. He can’t make any move without evidence of this weapon, and all his transmissions are monitored by Imperial Intelligence. It has to be delivered by hand.”

Cere’s eyebrow raised. “You don’t have anyone that can get it to him sooner?”

“Unfortunately not. The transport we used to get here is the only ship we have left, and it’s in bad shape. That, and if it got destroyed in a mission like this, all my Partisans would be stranded here.”

“And we’re expendable. Great.” Greez turned to leave the hangar. “I’m gonna go back to the Mantis. I want to make sure the repairs go smooth.”

“We have a variable transponder we can install in your ship as well. It already has several fresh transponder codes, so you should be able to land on imperial planets without any trouble.”

Cere gave him a small smile. “Thank you. That should help. Do you know about how long repairs will take?”

“No, I’m no engineer. Definitely more than a day, though, so you should take some time and try to relax. You’ve definitely earned it.”

Cere turned to Cal and Merrin. “I think I’ll do that. I’m going to check out the rest of the base, but I’ll see you both back on the Mantis.”

Cal inched toward Merrin. “I’ll stay here for a while, until Merrin’s up.”

“You do not have to stay, I do not think I will be here long.”

“I know, but just in case.”

Saw gestured to Cal as Cere left. “Oh, I found that information you were looking for. There was only one ship that seemed to fit the description you gave me that was recorded going to Dathomir around six years ago. There weren’t any Jedi aboard, but it was the flagship of the separatist commander, General Grievous, and he was known for using lightsabers in combat.”

Confusion came over Cal’s features. “Was he a different force user, like a Sith?”

“No, he was infamous for taking lightsabers off of Jedi he killed. He considered them trophies, and using them against Jedi would be demoralizing, I would think.”

“Who is this ‘General Grievous’?” Merrin looked up at the two.

The droid stepped back from the group. “Regeneration complete.”

Merrin blinked, then stood up with no trouble. She looked to the droid, then to Saw. “Thank you. I am feeling much better.”

Saw took out a portable holocom. “It’s the least we could do. We have an image of Grievous on file, though.” He pressed a button on the small circular device, and the image of General Grievous appeared just above it, his metallic droid-like form wielding four lightsabers in an attacking pose.

Merrin’s face darkened, hate and fury overtaking her. “That is him. That is the one who descended upon us.”

Cal looked to her. “Are you sure?”

Merrin didn’t turn, staring daggers into the blue holo image. Her voice came out strained by rage through gritted teeth. “I will never forget this image. This is the one who cut down my sisters. Where is this Grievous now?”

Saw turned off the image. “According to our sources, he was killed on Utapau by a Jedi master named Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of the Clone Wars, about 5 years ago.”

Merrin’s lip quivered. She closed her eyes and trembled in rage. “Why? Why did he come to Dathomir?”

Saw looked down at the nightsister, pity on his face. “I can give you the entire report we were given, but from what we know, he was ordered there by the leader of the entire separatist movement, a man by the name of Count Dooku Serenno.”

Her eyes met Saw’s, her rage covering her exhaustion. “And where is this Count Dooku Serenno now?”

Saw’s eyes closed, and he let out a breath. “He was also killed during the Clone Wars by a Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker.”

Merrin’s shoulders slowly slumped, and her face fell. The rage evaporated from her, leaving only exhaustion. Cal put a hand on her shoulder. “Merrin…”

Her face kept low, and her voice came out barely above a whisper. “Where are these two Jedi, then? This Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker? If they have given my sisters their vengeance, I would speak with them.”

“From what I know, and these two were pretty famous during the Clone Wars, both were killed. Obi-Wan Kenobi was killed on Utapau shortly after he killed Grievous, when the clone troopers defected to the new Empire, and Anakin Skywalker was reported killed by the Emperor’s right hand, Darth Vader, on Coruscant.”

Cal squeezed Merrin’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Merrin stood still for a moment before looking up at Cal, all the rage gone, her lower lip quivering. “No. I am not okay. I… I need to think about this. I would like to be alone.”

Cal slowly nodded before looking up to Saw. “Is there anywhere I can take her?”

Saw pointed to a hallway near their corner. “We have some service tunnels that aren’t being worked on right at the moment, down the corridor over there. Best I can do right now, I’m afraid. We’re still doing a lot of excavation.”

Cal’s eyes returned to Merrin. Her eyes had turned back to the floor. “Is that okay, or do you want to go back to the Mantis?”

Merrin stood, unmoving for a moment. “Not the Mantis.”

Cal took her hand with his other arm, guiding her with both. “Okay. We’ll find a quiet place.” He looked back up to Saw. “Thanks for looking into this for me.”

Saw gave a small nod. “Of course. If there’s anything else you need, let me know.”

Cal gave Saw a small smile and led Merrin down the hallway. It took less than a minute for the people in the base to disappear and the two to be alone in the well-lit white corridors of the base. He found an empty room devoid of any equipment and led her inside. The square room was simple, walls carved roughly out of Hoth’s white stone, a single doorway leading in or out. He brought Merrin to the wall and helped her sit down. He looked down to her and hesitated. “Did… did you want to talk about it?” She gave no response. After a moment, he turned to leave. “Okay, but if you need anything, please tell me. Please.” He waited a moment more, before taking a step away from her.

“It is over.” Cal froze in his tracks, immediately turning back to her. She looked up to him, her eyes brimming with tears. “It was supposed to be better. My sisters are avenged, I was supposed to find peace. But…”

He walked over to her and knelt down, putting his hand in hers. He looked into her eyes as the tears began to spill, cascading down her cheeks.

She made no motion to stop them or to wipe them away. “They are all dead, and there is nothing left for me. Noth… nothing left…” Merrin fell forward, burying her face in Cal’s chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she cried. “You never let yourself grieve for them, did you? You relied on vengeance to keep a hold of a part of them.”

Her voice wavered as she sobbed. “It… it was supposed to get better. They are avenged. And now I have nothing. No one left. My sisters, my mother, Ilyana, they are all gone. Forever.”

Cal held her tighter. “You have us, Merrin. You’ll always have us.”

Her head shook in his arms. “It is not the same. I am just a Dathomiri witch. Ilyana was the only one who understood. She was the only one who loved me. And now I am alone. Forever.”

He pulled away from her and cupped her cheek, bringing her eyes up to meet his. “What are you talking about?”

Tears continued to fall down her cheeks, streaks of water staining her face. “No one trusts me. There is no where I belong. You try, and I am grateful for it, but no one will ever love me. Everyone sees me as a witch, and I will be alone for the rest of my…”

Cal had no idea how it happened. He didn’t will it to happen, but his body moved on its own as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. He felt her lips seize in surprise, and his nose pressed into her tear streaks, wetting the side of his face. He held the kiss for a moment before withdrawing. He stared into her eyes, shock taken over every other emotion she felt. Even her tears had stopped. He gathered himself, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes so he couldn’t see the pools of molten honey that she used to stare back at him. When he opened his eyes, tears brimmed in them as well. “Don’t ever say that no one will love you, Merrin. I love you.” His heart jumped into his throat, and he forcibly swallowed it down. “I’ve been in love with you for a while.” He took another deep breath as her mouth fell open in shock, forcing his emotions down, though his tears fell freely from his eyes. “You will find someone that you love, and she’ll love you back so fiercely, because how could she not. You’re brave, and strong, and beautiful. You’re not just ‘some witch’. You’ll find someone that will love you the way you love her…” his words were cut off as her lips smashed into his, her arms wrapping around his neck and holding him tightly. His arms snaked around her back and pressed her against him as he felt her tears continue against his cheek.

Their kiss lasted until they had no choice but to come up for air, the both of them panting heavily as they looked into each other’s eyes. Tears still stained Merrin’s pale cheeks, and her voice was strained. “I… I love you too, Cal. I’ve loved you for so long. But… I never thought you would ever return my love. I feel you resist my darkness every time you are near. I know you do not trust my power.”

Cal froze. He knew exactly what she was talking about. His arms released her, traveling up to her shoulders and pushing her back. He remembered seeing her hurt, and the rage that overwhelmed him. “It’s not your darkness I’ve been resisting, Merrin. It’s mine.” He shook his head, and tears came out of his eyes once more. “You saw what happened on Taris. You saw what I did to that imperial. I almost murdered her because she hurt you.”

Merrin’s eyes narrowed in confusion until realization hit them and they widened. “No, Cal, you were defending me. She attacked, and you acted…”

“My rage consumed me, Merrin. Whenever I think about losing you… I can’t…”

“Then don’t. I will be here with you.”

Cal released her shoulders and scooted back. “Jedi can’t allow themselves to love. These attachments lead to the dark side. You saw it. You saw what I did. Our connection to the force makes us so vulnerable to give in, and if I ever hurt you…”

“You will never hurt me, Cal. I trust you.”

“I don’t trust me!” He forced himself to his feet as he yelled, just being near her hurt. “Jedi have hurt the ones they love because of the way rage takes us over, and I couldn’t bear it if I ever hurt you!” He averted his eyes from her as he saw fresh tears fall down her face, and he could feel his own tears roll down his cheeks as well. “Master Tapal always taught me that I have to let go of that which I fear to lose, and I’ve never feared losing anything more than I’m afraid of losing you. I have to let you go. I… have to.” His voice caught in his throat, and he knew he was trying to convince himself more than her. “We’re fighting the Empire, my first duty has to be to the galaxy. It’s the way of the Jedi.”

Merrin jumped to her feet. “Damn the galaxy, and damn your Jedi!” She closed in on him, holding his shoulders. “Let’s forget everything. Let’s find some world the Empire has not touched and live there together. Just you and me. The Empire has not found Dathomir, we could live there, or we could live anywhere else, as long as I am with you I do not care.”

Cal closed his eyes. He wanted so badly to say yes, but Jaro Tapal appeared in his mind. “What about all these people? The Jedi are all but gone. I’m the only hope so many of these people have left. I can’t abandon them, no matter how much I want to be with you.” He forced a wet sniff and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, forcing his emotions down. “There is no passion, there is peace. I have a duty to the galaxy. What happens after that, I don’t know. I love you, Merrin, but I have to figure this out, and I can’t abandon everyone else just because I want to be with you.” He tried to will the tears to stop, but they refused. “I let my master die because I was too afraid to act. He died because I let my fear control me. I can’t let anyone else die because I let my emotions be more important than their lives. I can’t let my fear and my love allow anyone else to get hurt, and I can’t let my rage be the weapon that kills them. Especially if you are the one who dies because of it. I wouldn’t ever be able to forgive myself.”

Merrin simply stared at him, her eyes out of tears, but still red from crying. “So that is it? We pretend this never happened? I do not accept that. You are not going to hurt me, and you are not indebted to the whole galaxy just because you have some kind of power.” Her eyes turned to the floor for just a moment. “If you need time to figure things out, then I can accept that, but do not tell me that you are hopeless Cal Kestis. You have been the only hope in my life for a very long time.” Her eyes stared directly into his. “I am in love with you, Cal, and you are in love with me. This is something worth fighting for.”

Cal looked away. “I’m sorry, Merrin. I wish things were different. But I won’t let you get hurt. Not by me. Please just give me some time.”

Merrin’s face fell, and she solemnly nodded. “If you believe this is what you need, then I will respect that. But I know you. I have known you for months now. You are stronger than this. You have put your life on the line for so many people, and I know you will not hurt me, even if you do not.”

His eyes squeezed shut. “I’m sorry.” His heart squeezed painfully in his chest, and he knew he had no choice, he needed to leave, his heart swelled with pain being so close to her. He walked out of the room, leaving Merrin standing alone, watching him go as fresh tears streamed down both their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by far the longest chapter in the story so far, and it was the hardest to write, by FAR. There are three scenes I came up with first for this story that really cemented it in my mind and made me really want to write this and come up with a coherent storyline for them. This was one of them. I'm not ashamed to say that I felt a couple tears leave my eyes as I wrote this, because I love Cal and Merrin so much, and I really want them to be happy together. But the author in me also wants that to be EARNED in the story. This is not the end, not by a long shot (we're just past the half-way mark in this story if my outline is to be believed, but so far it's been a lying bitch...), and I'd like to think that I've been pretty consistent with uploads for it. This one might stew for a moment, though, it might be a full day or two before the next chapter, this one was emotionally draining to write. I ended up looking up Cal x Merrin fanart for moral support (and there isn't NEARLY enough of that on the internet, there are days I wish I could draw). In any case, next chapter within the next three days, tops.


	14. Chapter 14

Three days passed, and Cal barely noticed. He rarely ate, and he barely talked to anyone. Every time he saw Merrin in the base, she turned and walked away. He couldn’t blame her. Cere and Greez had both tried to talk to him several times, but he said little every time. Meditation ended up being his only reprieve, but even then the force swirled around him, threatening to overwhelm him when he let down his guard. Finally, the Mantis was repaired, and the crew were preparing for their journey to Alderaan. Cal finished cleaning his cot and putting away the clothes he had let gather around the engine room of the Mantis when he felt a familiar presence fill his room like the gigantic teddy bear it was. He turned and saw Ortas at the door, giving him a half hearted smile. “Hey.”

“Hey, I heard you guys were leaving for Alderaan today.” His smile faded a little as Cal gave him a small nod. “I just wanted to come to say thanks. You saved my life. Twice.”

Cal looked up to the large man. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes, you did. You took me with you on Rishi, and you protected me and LN on Taris.” Cal flinched. “We’d both be dead if not for you.”

Cal closed his eyes and shook his head. “I almost killed her.”

“She attacked Merrin. If someone did that to a girl I felt for the way you feel about her, I probably would’ve just shot her in the back. No one blames you for what happened.” Ortas approached the young Jedi and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re too hard on yourself, you know. You saved every single person in this base. All of us. Who else could’ve done that?” When Cal didn’t respond, he continued. “LN will forgive you. I’ve told her how sorry you are for what happened. She regrets attacking her too, you know.”

Cal’s eyes looked up and found his. “She does?”

Ortas smiled down at him, his blond hair partially covering his eyes. “Yeah. She was just trying to escape, and with the reputation Saw has around the Empire, I can’t really say I blame her either.”

“She’s alright? She hasn’t been hurt?”

“No, I’ve made sure of it. It’s been a ride, though. There are a lot of people getting really impatient for the information she might have, especially Saw.” He grimaced. “And I don’t need to tell you how most people around here feel about the Empire. Especially Saw.”

Cal’s face fell. “And I delivered her to him.”

“You kept her from turning into one of those things on Taris.” Ortas shook his head and removed his hand. “I think you expect perfection from yourself. You may be a Jedi, but you’re still just a guy. You have got to cut yourself some slack.” He stood up straight, his head almost bumping into the top of the doorframe. “Anyway, I really just came to thank you for everything you did for me.”

Cal stood up straight again. “You don’t have to thank me. Truthfully, you saved my life too. You backed me up against those creatures, and you’re the one who gave me the opening I needed. I’d probably be dead if it weren’t for you.”

Ortas could only smile at that statement, a goofy grin appearing on his features. “Thanks. I don’t think I did that much.” He held out his hand.

Cal took it, his much smaller hand disappearing in Ortas’ in their handshake. “It may not have seemed like much to you, but it was a lot to me.”

Orta’s smile got impossibly wider. “Maybe you should listen to your own words about things like that.”

“Yes, you should.” Cal’s eyes went wide and Ortas turned to his side to reveal Merrin standing behind him, looking at the two, a serious expression on her face. Ortas stepped to the side to open the way into the engine room. She looked up at the partisan. “Ortas, Cal is also right. You were most helpful, and I am grateful you were with us.”

A small blush formed on his cheeks. “Thanks. Glad to help.”

Merrin extended her hand. “I believe you offered your hand to me when we first met.”

Ortas let out a small chuckle. “Yeah. Thank you.” He took her hand and shook it, her hand and wrist disappearing in his. “You really saved my life.”

“As did you. Thank you for being with us. I hope to see you again.”

“So do I.” Ortas released her hand and looked at the both of them. “Both of you.” He nodded to Cal and scooted around Merrin and walked out of the Mantis.

Merrin stood at the doorway of the engine room. “We will be departing for Alderaan shortly.”

Cal stood, regarding her uncomfortably. She stood, unmoving. “Yeah.”

“We will need our wits about us. It is an imperial planet, and we may encounter trouble.”

“I know.”

Merrin shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “I will not pretend that nothing has happened between us, Cal.”

Cal’s eyed found the floor. “I’m not asking you to.”

“Are you not?” She stepped into the room, staring holes into him. “You say you need time. I do not know what that means. What will time do for you?”

Cal breathed sharply. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to handle this. If my master were alive, I know exactly what he would say, but he’s not, and the order we served is gone. I don’t know what to do. I need to figure it out. I was taught my entire life to reject attachments, that they lead to nothing but anger and ruin and death. Am I just supposed to throw everything I’ve been taught away just because it’s inconvenient? How am I better than every Jedi master that came before me?”

Merrin stepped back, her stony gaze broken. She averted her eyes, suddenly uncertain. “I do not know. The only other Jedi I ever met was Malicos, and you are certainly better than him.”

“No, I’m not.” Merrin’s eyes met his again, this time wide with surprise. Cal continued. “I don’t know what Malicos went through to turn him to his twisted beliefs. But when I held Trilla’s lightsaber on Bogano, I saw what she went through.”

“You have told me this.”

“The point is, she went through torture for months and watched children die before breaking. Malicos lived on Dathomir for years before I met him. I saw you hit in the head with a rock. Once. And I almost killed someone for it. I’m not better than them.”

Merrin slowly shook her head, looking toward the floor. “Ortas was right. You expect perfection from yourself, and you refuse to allow yourself the forgiveness you grant to so many others.” She looked back up to him, tears in her eyes. “The forgiveness you gave me. I used my rage against you, and you forgave me immediately. Why can you not forgive yourself?”

Cal turned away from her. “I feel the dark side. I feel it right now, telling me that I should have killed her. I know it’s wrong, and I push it down, but it’s still there. It’s not a matter of forgiving myself, it’s about that feeling in the back of my mind. I don’t trust myself.”

She blinked her tears back, a hardness coming over her features once more. “And my trust in you, this means nothing?”

He shook his head feverishly, swinging around to face her. “No, it means everything, and I can’t betray that trust!”

“And I tell you you will not!” Her voice echoed with anger throughout the ship. “I do not care what your Jedi have said, they taught you stupid rules!”

Anger flared in Cal, thinking of the sacrifice Jaro Tapal made for him, and his voice flared through the ship. “You don’t know anything about the Jedi! Who are you to judge what I’ve been taught? I haven’t judged your magic! You say you trust me, but you’re not listening to anything I’m saying!”

Merrin turned and stormed away, nearly knocking Greez over as she left. “You are so FRUSTRATING!”

Cal closed his eyes and breathed heavily before turning and slamming his fist into the wall.

“Are you alright?” Cal turned to see Greez looking at him from the doorway.

“I’m fantastic.” He made no attempt to keep the anger out of his voice.

“That your guys’ first fight?”

Cal sat down on his cot, right next to a pile of half folded clothing. “You heard us?”

“I think half of Hoth heard you.” Greez entered the room and hopped on the cot next to Cal. “So you told her how you feel.”

Cal didn’t answer for a moment. “How did you know?”

“She told me this morning. The both of you have been moping around for the past couple of days, avoiding each other, neither of you have been eating, or sleeping. I was worried. I may have kinda told her she should talk to you.” He flinched from Cal’s glare, though he could see the sadness and understanding in his eyes, even a touch of gratefulness. “Look, Cal, I don’t know anything about the Jedi, but I know how you two feel about each other.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Whataya mean it doesn’t matter?” Greez placed a hand on Cal’s shoulder and pushed, forcing the young Jedi to face him. “Of course it matters! If it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t be so miserable right now, and neither would she.”

Cal’s eyes met the floor, the anger on his face evaporating. “I’m not trying to make her miserable. I’m trying to protect her.”

Greez gave him an incredulous look. “I don’t know if you were there on Dathomir, but I don’t think she really needs your protection, kid.” He took a deep breath. “Look, I understand. You know how strong she is, but you don’t want her to have to fight. You want to give her the whole galaxy.”

“I don’t want to…”

“I didn’t say you want to conquer the galaxy for her, but you promised to take her to Kashyyyk. You want to take her everywhere. Cal, she doesn’t want to go everywhere. She just wants you.” He watched Cal look up at him for a moment before the redhead’s gaze fell to the floor again. “She wants to run away with you, to keep you from fighting the empire. She knows how much you hate fighting. You both keep trying to do what you think is best for the other. But neither of you is listening.”

“Greez, you don’t understand.”

“Then explain it to me.” His hand found Cal’s shoulder. “I’m not joking, I’m right here. Please, tell me.”

Cal closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “I don’t want to be the one that hurts her. I feel the dark side welling up inside me, ever since she was attacked. I lost control. If I ever lost control with her…”

Greez’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “You’re afraid that you’ll hurt her.” Cal nodded. “Kid, you’re hurting her now.”

Cal’s eyes shot up to Greez. “Wha…”

“She wants you to trust her.”

“I do trust her!”

Greez shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. She wants you to trust in her trust in you. She’s afraid of hurting you too, you know. That freaky magic of hers could really mess you up. But she chooses to trust in your trust in her.”

“It’s not the same…”

“Isn’t it?”

“Look.” Cal put his hands on his knees and at up straight. “I need to figure this out. I need to make sure that I won’t lose control around her.”

Greez stared at the young man for a moment. “I get that. And I’m not trying to tell you to rush into anything. It’s just… well… I’m a bit older than I used to be. And I really have to tell you, when I look back at my life, it’s not the things I failed at that I really regret. It’s the times I never took a chance. It’s the times I never even tried that I wish I could change. Like I said, I don’t know much about the Jedi, or the Nightsisters. But if you let her slip through your fingers, you’re gonna regret it for the rest of your life, Cal. Don’t make that mistake.”

“You’re saying we’ll be happy together?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if you crazy kids’ll work out. Young relationships like yours often don’t. Sometimes they do. And if you think that’s the last fight you two’ll ever have, whoo boy are you in for a shock. With as confident and headstrong as you both are, you two’ll have some legendary fights.” Greez shook his head and looked away. “I sure hope you two work out. I like you both, and I want you both to be happy. I don’t know if that’s what’s gonna happen. But I know it won’t if you don’t figure yourself out and take a chance.”

Cal slowly nodded. “I’ll try.”

“That’s all any of us can really do.” Greez stood up and walked toward the door. “We’re about to lift off, but I wanted to see how you were doing first. You don’t have to, but I’d still like you up on the scanner when we go.”

Cal looked up at the Latero and smiled sadly. “I’ll be up in a minute. And Greez?” he stopped and turned back to Cal after just starting toward the cockpit. “Thanks.”

Greez gave him a warm smile. “Anytime, kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That last chapter stirred up some emotions. This one was... not as bad (that that argument though). For me. But I really wanted to really include Greez here. He's one of my favorite characters, and I think he would have some good advice for Cal and Merrin were something like this to come up. In any case, Thank you everyone for the amazing reviews, I'm glad I could tear some hearts to shreds. I'll do my best to only do that three or four more times.


	15. Chapter 15

It took a week to get from Hoth to Alderaan. There were no direct hyperspace lanes between the two worlds, so they ended up taking the galactic backroads all the way there, and Merrin said three words the entire time. Cal was miserable. He had tried to apologize to Merrin about their fight, but she merely nodded at him and then ignored him the rest of the trip. Upon catching her silently crying, he decided to give her as much space as he could on the small ship. At the end of the trip, she appeared at his door in the engine room. “I am sorry.”

Cal stood, caught off guard. He hadn’t heard her approach. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”

“I have not had an easy time with this. I have been alone for a very long time. I could not show any weakness to the Nightbrothers or Malicos. You were the first person in a long time to show me kindness, even when I repaid it with vengeance. I have been alone for so long, and I did not expect you to…” Her voice trailed off.

“I’m the one who should be sorry. I assumed you would never feel that way about me, and you looked so hurt, it broke my heart to see you in that much pain.” He approached her, stopping just out of arms reach. “Truthfully, I hadn’t even intended it to happen. I just moved.”

Her eyes met him, confusion and sadness etched in them. “Why would you assume I would not love you back?”

A blush formed on his cheeks. “Well, I’m a guy.”

“And?”

“With what you said about Ilyana, I thought you weren’t interested in men.”

Merrin looked down. “Oh. I had not even thought of this. I have never been interested in any of the Nightbrothers, but you remind me more of a Nightsister anyway.”

Cal was taken aback. “What? Why?”

She shrugged. “You care nothing of amassing power. You look out for the people around you. You demonstrate kindness and compassion. The Nightbrothers care for nothing except power and control. You are nothing like them.” A small blush appeared on her face. “Also, I really like your hair. It reminds me of her.”

Cal absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair. “Did she have red hair too?”

“No, Ilyana’s hair was long, and the color of midnight. Your hair is the color of the sky just before dawn. But it is soft and waves in the wind like hers did. Nightbrothers do not grow hair on their heads, and I find hair to be very attractive. I find you to be very attractive.” Her eyes darted away in embarrassment. “This is not what I came here to say.”

Cal shook the blush off. “Right, sorry. Please, go on.”

“It has been difficult for me to find the words. I am not used to speaking this much. But I do not wish for our friendship to end, no matter how I feel about you. If I cannot share the bond with you, then I would still be there for you in what manner you would have me, as a friend.”

Cal wanted to smile at her words, but the idea of being just friends with her was like a punch in the gut. He couldn’t help but let his face show depression. “Yeah. I don’t want to stop being friends with you either.” He swallowed his feelings and held out his hand. “So, friends?”

She gave him a sad smile and took his hand. “Friends.”

Greez’s voice came through over the ships com. “Alright, get up here, we’re at Alderaan.”

Merrin let her hand fall from his and turned to leave. Cal followed behind, the two taking their places for their landing. The landing was very smooth, the Mantis flying through calm weather down to a well kept landing pad on the side of a small spaceport situated on the edge of a lake with a city in the center and right by a coniferous forest. All these things were plainly visible as they landed. Three people dressed in light gray hooded robes approached the landed ship as the ramp lowered to the ground and raised a hand in greeting as Cal, Merrin, Greez, and Cere exited the ship. “On behalf of Senator Organa and the royal family of Alderaan, welcome to the city of Aldera. If you would follow me, we have a private audience chamber waiting where the Senator will meet with you.”

Cere stepped forward, the datapad in her hand. “Thank you. Please, lead the way.” They were led through several corridors, each well lit and metallic, the floor carpeted in deep blues and reds. After a moment, they were led into a room with several chairs and a couch, as well as a table lined with various fresh fruits and cheeses just in front of a window giving a grand view of the lake. “Senator Organa will be here shortly. Until then, please make yourselves at home.”

“We will.” Cere took a seat on the edge of the couch as the three hooded men left, the door closing behind them. She looked to the three. “So far, this hasn’t been so bad.”

“Can’t be mad at someone who lays out a spread like this!” Greez spoke, his mouth already filled with food.

Merrin joined him at the table, grabbed a plate, and began to fill it. “I have never seen so much food in one place before.”

“Alderaan is an Imperial Core world. Most of the wealth of the Empire comes through here.” Cere shook her head. “It was like that during the days of the Republic too. Favorable trade and good positioning can make a world rich. Alderaan has learned that lesson well.”

Cal took a seat on a chair opposite Cere. “I don’t get it. If Alderaan is doing so well under the Empire, why would someone so high up in its government be helping Saw?”

“I don’t know, but I figure he’s got his reasons.” Cere relaxed in her seat. “We’ll be able to ask him soon enough.”

Merrin sat on a chair near the table, her plate full of food. “Perhaps he wishes to learn about others who would oppose the Empire, and he uses Saw to gain this information?”

Greez also sat, now eyeing his food a bit suspiciously. “Wait, you’re not saying we might be falling into a trap, are you?”

Cal smiled and shook his head. “I don’t think the food is poisoned.”

“Even if that were the case, he wouldn’t gain anything from killing us here.” Cere stretched her arms above her head. “I think it’s more likely he’s a Republic loyalist who wants a return to the days before the Empire. I did a little checking up on him, and he’s been a senator since long before imperial rule. Could be because he dislikes the Empire, could be nostalgia for the old ways.”

The door slid open, and a tall man wearing a tan uniform and a whit cloak entered. “I apologize for the delay. I am Senator Bail Organa. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” He approached Cal, who stood at his approach. “You must be Cal Kestis. Saw’s told me much about you.” He held out his hand.

Cal looked down at the hand for a moment before meeting his eyes again and taking it, shaking it confidently. “I am. Saw’s told us little about you, Senator.”

“Please, call me Bail. I’ve heard how you rescued the Wookies on Kashyyyk, and he told me of your rescue of his forces on Rishi when he sent word of your arrival. You’re truly a credit to the Jedi Order.”

“Thank you.” Cal took his hand back, looking sheepish.

Cere stood and approached him. “I wish we were here just for a friendly visit.” She handed him the datapad.

He looked down at it before taking it, his expression turning serious. “This is this ‘super weapon’ Saw was talking about?”

“It is. We got detailed scans of it when the Empire used it on Rishi.”

He looked down at the pad for a moment. “I wanted to believe that it wasn’t true. I wanted to believe that the Empire, as it is now, wasn’t really capable of this kind of barbarism.” He turned the pad on and looked over the data on it. “I truly wished I was wrong about it, that I was making it out as worse than it was over nostalgia over what came before. But it’s not, is it? The Empire is guilty of everything I’ve dreaded.”

Cal stepped back, looking at the older man with sympathy. “I’m afraid so. Almost a million people died on Rishi, just so the Empire could prove a point.”

Bail turned the pad off. “I’ll have my people look these scans over, but there’s a place with even more information on this weapon here on Alderaan.” He looked up to Cal and placed a hand on his shoulder. “There’s a military outpost on the southern continent, a hotbed of scientific research goes on there. If this weapon does use the latest in imperial tech, you can bet the blueprints for it are in the mainframe within their research division. If you could get in there and find those blueprints, we might be able to find a weakness in the weapon’s design, a flaw in its construction or a way to defend against it. I hate to ask this of you, the place is the most heavily guarded building on the entire planet, but if we can get our hands on those blueprints, it could save millions, billions of lives.”

Cal looked to Bail with resolve. “I’ll get you those blueprints.”

Bail could only smile. “You really are a Jedi. I’ll make sure you have all the information on the layout and defenses of the base before you go in.” He squeezed Cal’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

The door slid open, a young girl wearing a simple white dress holding a four-legged stuffed animal a quarter the size of her stood just outside. Bail whirled around and looked down at the little girl, a small smile playing on his lips. “I told you to wait in the ship.”

“But they’re sad.” She back and forth between Cal and Merrin before entering the room.

Bail let out a breath before approaching the little girl and picking her up, holding her against his side so she could sit on his forearm. “Forgive me. Let me introduce the crown princess of Alderaan and my daughter, the Princess Leia.”

“Nice to meet you, Princess.” Cal held out his hand.

Leia made no motion to take it, looking at his hand as though she had no idea what to do with it. She wriggled free of Bail’s grasp, landed on her feet, and walked over to Merrin. She handed her the stuffed animal she carried. “Don’t be sad.”

Merrin looked down at the small child, confusion on her face. “What are you…”

“This is Mantha the Bantha. He’s my best friend. He always makes me feel better. He should go with you now.”

Merrin did not move. “I do not understand.”

“You’re sad. Mantha won’t make it better, but he’ll be there for you.” Leia pushed the stuffed animal into Merrin’s arms. “Just hold him. You’ll see.” She smiled up at the nightsister. “And don’t worry, you’ll be happy soon.”

Merrin looked down to the horned stuffed bantha and cradled it in her arms. A tear escaped her eye as she met eyes with the little girl in front of her. “Thank you, but won’t you miss your friend?”

Leia shook her head. “He’ll always be with me. Now, he’ll always be with you too.”

A look of realization came over Cere’s face as she stood up and walked over the Bail. “She’s force sensitive, isn’t she?”

Bail slowly nodded. “The inquisition came for her. She’s smart, she hid her power while they were here, and they concluded that she was just a normal girl. But I’m always afraid that they’ll find her.”

Cal looked back and forth between Bail and Leia. “And that’s why you oppose the Empire.”

“The republic wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. I had originally hoped that the Empire would be better. But when they came after my daughter, just for being born with her gifts, I knew they had to be stopped. I happen to be in a position that protects me, but so few have that luxury.” He looked back to Cal. “Find those plans. Stop this weapon. I’ll find a way to get it opposed in the Senate. I can’t oppose it myself, but there are plenty of senators from the mid rim that are protected by their distance that can oppose it freely. I can get this information to them and let them propose a ban on it. But that’ll take time.” His eyes shifted back to his daughter. “So please, not for me, but for her. Stop the Empire.”

Cal looked to the little girl smiling up at the woman he loved. “I will. I’ll find a way to get into that place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do like these story-heavy chapters, but we're getting really close to some more action. Quite a lot more, actually. But I like the idea, since the Inquisition is a thing, of Princess Leia being the impetus for Bail Organa forming the Rebel Alliance. It gives his some real motivation going, rather than just being a great guy standing up to tyranny, instead he's a father trying to protect his daughter, and that's what spurns him on to do the right thing. I dunno, I thought it was a good idea. In any case, thank you all for all the reviews, especially LTWF247, aslanbrooke, and RepeatOdyssey for all the reviews on so many of the chapters I've written! But also to everyone who reviews! I love you guys so much!


	16. Chapter 16

A map of the imperial compound shined on the holotable, all four of the Mantis crew standing around it. “It looks like there’s a way in through this courtyard” Cere pointed to a large open area just inside the walls of the compound but outside the main building, a pyramid-like structure with the top cut off, two arms branching off the corners to encircle it. “If you can make it to the east wing, you should be able to make it through to the service tunnels below the building and make it to the central compound.”

“There appear to be another set of tunnels that lead almost directly to the research center.” Merrin pointed to another set of tunnels on the map, a set of yellow-glowing veins traveling under the light blue color of the holographic compound.

Greez shook his head. “Yeah, but to get to them, you have to get to the center of the courtyard. You’d be a sitting duck out there.”

“It would seem to be a better option than coming out of the service tunnels right at the edge of this east wing.”

“If we move in during the night, the inside of the compound should be fairly empty.” Cal pressed a few buttons on the table, and the image zoomed out to show the compound on top of a small mountain. “What I’m most concerned about is getting up here. We can’t take the Mantis, it’d be too obvious, and there’s only one path up.”

“Two.” Merrin pointed at a winding line leading from the compound to the bottom on the image. “We can follow this river up to the building and get over the wall at the back side.”

“The wall is patrolled by security droids, and their alarms are connected to the imperial security network. I’d like to avoid detection for as long as possible.”

Cere pressed a button and rotated the map. “The Senator gave us a patrol schedule, and assuming it’s accurate according to it It looks like there’s a small gap in the rotation on the cliffside wall every twenty minutes.”

“I should be able to get BD up there to hack into one of the droids and have it start transmitting a wrong feed.” Cal leaned back against the wall. “That should get us in, at the very least.”

Cere sat down. “Unfortunately, the rooms inside the compound aren’t marked, these are just the construction blueprints. We’re not going to have any idea what to expect once we get in there.”

Merrin nodded. “It is okay, Cal and I should be able to handle anything that comes our way.”

“No.”

Merrin looked at Cal with surprise. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean you’re not coming with me this time.”

A hardness came over her face. “Do you expect me to just stay in the ship?”

“No, I expect you to infiltrate the facility with BD. I’m going to stay outside and run recon and interference.”

His words took everyone by surprise, but Cere was the first to speak. “What’re you planning?”

“We can’t let anyone know we’ve been in there, and if someone gets caught, they can’t know we’re force sensitive. Merrin can turn invisible, and BD can guide her, just like at Rishi, and get the data we need.”

Merrin shook her head. “The moment you use your Lightsaber, they will know you are a Jedi, Cal.”

“I’m leaving my lightsaber here.”

Everyone’s head snapped to him. “Cal, you can’t be serious.” Greez walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. “If there’s trouble, you’re gonna need it.”

“And if they find out there’s a Jedi here, the inquisition will come to this world. I won’t endanger anyone else because I was here. I won’t endanger that little girl.”

Merrin looked at Cal with sadness in her eyes. “You are worried about the princess.”

“The last time they were here she got lucky. Saw’s forces will survive without me. They won’t survive without Organa’s support.”

Cere stood back up, looking directly at Cal. “Cal, you saved all of them, twice now.”

“We saved all of them. It wasn’t just me.”

“Regardless, you shouldn’t take such a risk. If the worst happens, you’ll need your lightsaber.”

Greez let his arm go. “Yeah, you’re really good with that thing, and it’s not like you’re just gonna be using it all over the place, only if you really need it. You’re safer with it than without it.”

“Please, Cal. Do not leave your weapon behind.” Merrin scooted beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Please.”

Cal closed his eyes and let out a breath. “Alright, I guess we need a different plan.”

Merrin let go of his shoulder and stepped back. “Why? This plan will work. We have a point of entry, and a good strategy.”

“Not if there’s a chance the Inquisition could come here.”

Merrin’s shoulders fell. “Very well, what are our other options?” Cal said nothing for a moment, simply staring at the holomap. “Well?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Cal,” Cere started, “we’ve been going over this for two days. This plan is our best option. It’s a good plan.”

Greez hopped up on the seat next to Cere. “And the longer we wait, the more likely we’ll see another Rishi.”

Cal took a slow, deep breath. “Let’s wait another day, see if we can come up with something better, something that won’t put Alderaan in danger.”

Merrin’s eyes rolled back in annoyance. “Why are you preoccupied with a small possibility? Even if this Inquisition does come to Alderaan, wouldn’t they be coming here, to the other side of this world? It seems unlikely that the Princess Leia would be in any danger.”

Cal’s eyes turned hard toward Merrin, his voice coming out sharper than he had intended. “There’s a huge difference between almost no chance and no chance. I won’t let her pay for any mistakes we might make.”

“So you refuse to act because you fear what might happen?” She snapped back.

Greez hopped down from his seat and rushed between the two. “Now hold on, I think we’re getting just a little heated here. Maybe we should take a step back and relax for a moment…”

“It’s better than just jumping into a situation without considering the consequences!” Cal’s voice echoed through the ship as he yelled.

“And that is better than being paralyzed by fear just to let others die!” Merrin yelled back, the two staring daggers into each other.

Cere looked between the two. “Cal! Merrin! That’s enough!”

“I’m talking about protecting people!”

“You do not get to hide behind a little girl!”

“AND YOU DON’T GET TO RISK HER LIFE!”

“YOU ARE A COWARD, CAL KESTIS! IF YOUR MASTER WERE ALIVE YOU WOULD HAVE LET HIM DIE ALL OVER AGAIN!”

The ship went dead silent. Greez and Cere stared at Merrin, their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open in shock. Cal simply stared at her, furled brow and eyes full of anger, rage bubbling just beneath the surface.

The rage slowly melted off Merrin’s face as she realized what she had said. “Cal, I… I did not mean…”

“I need to be away from you right now!” he snapped as he turned around and stormed out of the ship. He descended off the ramp and walked swiftly away, heading into the forest just by the landing pad the mantis had been staged on for the past two days.

Right as he reached the edge of the treeline, a familiar voice called behind him. “Cal!” Cere rushed up beside him and bent over, catching her breath. “Wait…” Cal stopped as she approached, but kept facing away. Cere straightened a little, having mostly caught her breath. “She didn’t mean…”

“YES SHE DID!” he roared. He mentally slapped himself. “I’m sorry, Cere. It’s not your fault.”

“You have a right to be angry. What she said crossed a line.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “She’s just in pain. I know you are too. Pain makes people say stupid things. It makes them do stupid things.”

Cal could only nod solemnly. “Yeah.”

Cere let him have a moment before continuing. “Cal, it’s a good plan. Even if the Inquisition does come here, it’s unlikely they’d even leave the research facility. And you should absolutely take your lightsaber. I’ve seen you try to use a blaster, you’re terrible at it.” Cal let out a small chuckle despite himself. Cere continued. “I know you don’t want to take a chance with that little girl’s life. But the Empire is everywhere, and they’re a threat to everyone. It’s not us putting their lives in danger. We’re not responsible for what the Empire does. We’re only responsible for what we do.”

“I guess so.” He looked back up to her, his eyes having been staring at the ground. “Cere, how do I get this pain to stop? For the both of us?”

She gave him a sad smile. “I don’t know. I just know it’s because you two love each other, and the more you deny it while you’re right next to each other, the more it’ll hurt.”

“But, you’re the one who told me I shouldn’t pursue it.”

“When did I say that?”

Cal’s face became a picture of confusion. “You, you told me I should be careful about these feelings, that they could lead to the dark side…”

Cere let out a single chuckle, shaking her head. “They can, and you should. But being careful and not following your heart are two different things, Cal. I never said you shouldn’t pursue this.”

Cal looked away to process what she said. “So, you’re saying I should?”

“No, I’m not saying that either. I’m saying that whatever decision you make, I trust you, and I’ll be there for you.” She let out a sigh. “If I were your master, I probably would be advising you to gain distance from her and to not engage in a relationship with her. But I’m not your master, I’m your friend. And as your friend, all I can tell you is that I can’t make that decision for you.”

“But, why the difference? Shouldn’t what a master would say be what a friend would say?”

“Not always. If I were your master, I wouldn’t just be looking out for you, Cal. I’d be looking out for the interests of the Jedi Council as well. Attachments can make dedication to the council difficult, since loyalties get divided. But the council is gone. It’s just us. And as your friend, I’ve got your back.”

Cal let a small smile appear on his face. “Thanks, Cere. I’ve got yours too.”

She let out a full laugh. “Oh, I know.” She pointed to the ship with her head and turned. “Come on, let’s get back.”

“I’ll be there in a while. I do still want to clear my head.”

Cere nodded at him. “Okay. Don’t take too long, though. We have a mission, after all.”

“Right. I won’t.” He watched her turn and leave, only to call out before she had taken more than two steps. “Cere, that guy you fell for. Do you ever regret not telling him how you felt?”

Cere hesitated for a moment before meeting his eyes. “Every day.” She turned and continued toward the Mantis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little shorter, I ran into a little bit of writers block about the plan. Still though, I feel like Cere doesn't get enough love, and while Greez has a good amount of perspective on normal lives, Cere has been there for a lot of what Cal is now going through. The both of them make for really good mentor figures for Cal (and Merrin). Anyway, glad I could get this one out, let me know what you think!


	17. Chapter 17

The Mantis flew away, leaving Merrin and Cal on the mountain, the imperial research facility hidden behind the peak, the winding river leading to it flowing right next to them. Cere’s voice chimed on both of their coms. “We’ll keep tapped into imperial communications and let you know if there are any developments.”

“Thanks, Cere.” Cal turned toward the setting sun, where he knew the mountain path was. “Is there any problem now?”

“Chatter’s low, it doesn’t look like they noticed us. We’ll keep you updated. Good luck.”

“Thanks.” He looked to the droid on his back. “Okay, BD, it’s time. Good luck, little buddy.” With that, BD let out a sad trill and hopped off his back, running over to stand next to Merrin.

Merrin worked up her courage. “Cal, before we leave…”

He cut her off curtly. “We don’t have much time. Get to the river and get into position.”

Merrin could only nod. “Of course. I will see you in the compound.”

“Yeah.” He started into the forest.

“Cal?” He couldn’t stop himself from halting at Merrin’s call. “I’m sorry, and be safe.”

Cal looked back, noting the sad look on her face. He couldn’t help but let the icy demeanor he was trying to maintain melt a little. He gave her a half-hearted smile. “You too. We’ll talk once this is done.”

She nodded, turned, and began up the mountain next to the river. Cal turned as well and headed through the forest toward the mountain road that winded up to the facility. The sun still peaked over the horizon when he reached the road, and he started to follow it, though he kept off the road itself, concealing himself in the brush. Birds chirped happily in the trees and various animals roamed in the shade of the forest, unaware of the dark presence at the top of the mountain. As the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky became painted with oranges and reds, he heard some voices on the path. He ducked down in some brush and wished he had changed into something a bit more green. Two storm troopers appeared, walking along the winding dirt road. “… the Twi’lek threatened to steal it.”

“Well, that was dumb. Did Commander Salok arrest him?”

“No, he pulled out his blaster and shot him in the face.”

“That seems a bit excessive. It was just a few crystals.”

“Yeah, but you know the commander. He hates Twi’leks.”

“I think he hates everyone.”

Cal noted a presence as he watched the two troopers walk down the path. He turned quickly to see what it was, and a small deer-like creature bolted from the sudden movement, crashing through branches.

Both troopers pointed their blasters at Cal’s position. “What was that?”

The two scanned the area. “Do you see anything?”

“No, you?”

“I’ll check the infrared, just in case.” Cal cursed under his breath before the stormtrooper strengthened his grip on his blaster. “Hey, I see you, get up! What’re you doing here? This is a restricted area.”

Cal slowly raised his hands and stood up out of the brush. He looked closely, and saw nothing on the other side of the path. He had reached high enough that the road begun to follow the cliff face. He looked at the two Stormtroopers and kept his hands up, but kept in the brush so his lightsaber wasn’t visible. “Don’t shoot!” He focused his mind, and tried to reach out to their minds the way Cere had been training him to. “I’m supposed to be here, there’s no need to call this in.”

Both troopers hesitated for a moment, and one stumbled a little as though dizzy. He shook his head and look to the Jedi. “There’s no need… to…” He shook his head again, more vigorously. “No, you shouldn’t be here.”

The other stormtrooper glanced to his companion. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just a little… I don’t…” he brought his hand up to his helmet, where Cal knew his com was and he knew he was out of time. He focused his mind and used the force to shove forward, punching both stormtroopers back off the side of the cliff. He stood for a moment, his mind reeling over the lessons Cere had given him in the Jedi Mind Trick and his inability to get it right.

He shook it off and headed up the path once more, still keeping off the path and within the brush. The sky was mostly black by the time he made it to the outer walls of the keep, only a sliver of orange on the horizon below the starry night. On the wall stood several security droids, each moving in different directions on the perimeter, their patrol patterns weaving through each other in a strange mechanical dance. Several probe droids circled the courtyard. Cal took out his com. “Cere, Merrin, I’m in position.”

“We read you, Cal. There’s no imperial activity so far.” Cere’s voice came in clearly. “You seem good to go. We’re positioned a few clicks away, close to our rendezvous point.”

Merrin’s voice came through as well. “I am also in position. The metal men are almost in place for BD-1 to take one over.”

“Let us know when you go in, I’ll keep watch out here until you have the information, then I’ll clear your way out.”

There was a moment of silence before Merrin’s voice came through again. “I am going in.”

Another moment of silence, then several of the security droids stopped their patrol and looked to the back of the compound, every third droid beginning to run around the wall to Merrin’s position. Cal cursed and picked up his com. “Merrin, they’re closing in on you…” Without warning, the droids stopped running, then turned and walked back to their original position. “Nevermind, they’re returning to their posts.”

“It did not take BD-1 long to take control. We are over the wall now. I will contact you again if there are any issues.”

“Acknowledged.” Cal let himself breath. He hadn’t realized how fast his heart had gotten upon seeing the alarm on the droids until he was trying to calm himself. Minutes passed, minutes that felt like hours. The droids continued their patrol rotation, and small sounds came from the dark forest around him.

Without warning, Merrin’s voice came back over the com, quiet and subdued. “Cal, there are troopers with black armor in here.”

Cal’s blood went cold. “Avoid them at all costs.” He closed his eyes and breathed. “They’re trained to fight Jedi, not nightsisters.” He whispered to himself. “Calm down.”

Merrin’s voice came back through, still very quiet. “There seem to be several of them, but they have not noticed me.”

“See if there’s an alternate path.”

After another tense moment, she responded. “There are several staying outside the memory room. I believe I can…”

“Who’s there!” another voice burst out over the com. “I know you’re here. Come out.” His voice was cruel and taunting. “There!” Sounds of blaster fire came out of the com, followed by the familiar whistling of Merrin’s magic bolts. Without warning, a loud alarm blared from the compound and several searchlights turned on, aimed at the courtyard. The security droids on the wall began to run down the wall and to the interior of the compound as the probe droids descended as well, every droid closing in on Merrin’s position.

Cal didn’t hesitate, he jumped up to a tree branch close to the wall, then sprung of the branch to the wall itself, igniting his lightsaber and bringing it down on one droid’s head, splitting it in half. He reached out to one of the probe droids, pulling it to him violently, then pushed it into another security droid, causing both to explode into shrapnel. He instinctually deflected a couple of bolts from other probe droids back to them.

Cere’s voice exploded out of his com. “What happened? Imperial chatter just spiked!”

“We’ve been made, I’m going in for Merrin!” He ran toward a security droid that was running right toward him and slid between its legs, activating the other half of his lightsaber and spinning it as he did to take out both of the droid’s legs. It fell to the ground behind him as he sprung up running, detached the two sides of his lightsaber, and threw one into a probe droid that had neared him, slicing it in half as well as the one right behind it before he pulled the weapon back into his hand. Two more security droids ran toward him from opposite directions on the wall. Cal extended both hands and pulled both toward him as hard as he could, jumping off the wall and into the courtyard as he did, causing both droids to slam into each other right behind him. He landed on the hard ground and rolled onto his feet, immediately deflecting two more bolts from probe droids, and sprinted toward the main doors. He deflected blaster bolts wildly around him with one hand and raised his com to his mouth with the other. “Merrin, get to the courtyard!”

“We’re on our way now to pick you up. Try to clear the courtyard, we’ll retrieve you right there.”

As he ran toward the doors, several stormtroopers appeared along the roof of the two wings surrounding half of the courtyard. They pointed their blasters down toward the young Jedi and fired. Cal focused his mind into a single point of being and spun his lightsaber around, bouncing the bolts back to their original owners. After the first volley, at least six stormtroopers were down, but pain exploded in Cal’s arm and he knew he had been hit. He ran to the side, and a bay door opened on the side of the building. Four purge troopers emerged from the door, followed by an AT-ST walker. The two purge troopers with blaster rifles immediately took aim and fired at him with wide-beam shots and Cal rolled to the side, knowing from experience he could not deflect those. The beam was too wide, and it just went around his lightsaber.

“Cal, we’re almost there! Hold on!” Cere’s voice came out panicked.

Cal deflected another bolt from a stormtrooper on the roof, sending it to the closest purge trooper holding an electrostaff, his left arm aching as he felt blood running down from the blaster wound. “They have a walker down here!”

“I am almost there, Cal!” Merrin’s voice came out of the com. “BD is slicing through now!”

Cal raised his good arm and pulled a stormtrooper off the roof, losing focus as soon as he was pulled over the edge. Another pair of blaster bolts came toward Cal from the purge troopers. Cal reflected one back and hit the electrostaff trooper in the face, dropping him, but the other bolt hit Cal in the thigh, dropping him to one knee. Cal let out a grunt of pain. “Cere, hurry!”

The purge trooper behind the electrostaff trooper reached Cal, raising up a fully energized electrohammer and swung it down toward Cal’s head. He reached out to push the trooper away, but his left arm screamed in pain when he did, and his vision clouded over. A bolt of green energy hit the purge trooper in the chest and green flame burst from the cracks in his armor. He screamed as he fell to the ground. Cal looked over to see Merrin in front of the complex’s main doors, her eyes filled with green flame. She breathed heavily and her clothes were matted with blood along her left leg. She ran toward Cal, a noticeable limp slowing her down. Cal forced himself up and deflected two bolts from the walker, now fully emerged from the building, back to the machine.

The walker’s head turned up when the roar of the Mantis’s engines could be heard overhead, as three more purge troopers ran out of the entrance just behind it. A missile launched from the walker and flew toward their ship. Cal watched for just a second. “No.” He reached up and pulled the missile to him, holding the active rocket a foot from his face as Merrin reached him, turned, and pushed it back to the walker, hitting it in the side of the head. The explosion nearly knocked the walker over. Another blaster bolt flew toward the two, and Cal knocked it away. Merrin stepped forward and raised her hand, bringing green tendrils out of the ground and wrapped them around one of the purge troopers. The trooper fell toward the ground, voluntarily pushing his legs away, raised his blaster rifle and fired. Cal raised his lightsaber, and a spray of blood hit him in the face.

The world slowed as he watched Merin’s side open, the blaster bolt piercing through her just below her ribs on her side. She hit the ground in a heap, both arms pulling in toward the wound as blood pooled around her and she grunted in pain. BD-1 jumped off her back and cried out an alarm. “MERRIN!” He reached out and grabbed the purge troopers rifle, pushing it up so hard into his throat it knocked him clean off his knees and into the air. He caught the healing stim BD-1 ejected from its head and pushed into Merrin’s side. The bleeding immediately slowed, but it did not stop.

Cere’s voice came through the com. “Cal, we can’t land while that walker is up!”

Cal absentmindedly swung his lightsaber, deflecting another bolt. “You have to catch her.” He looked down to BD-1. “Hold on to her, buddy. She’s your responsibility.” The droid beeped dutifully.

“What?”

“Open the hatch, I’m coming to you. Do it now!” Cal looked up and saw the Mantis open its entrance hatch and extend its ramp. Cere appeared on the ramp, looking down at them. “Catch her.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cal picked Merrin up with the force, holding her just above him, and aimed her carefully toward Cere. Her eyes were clouded over and her breathing was shallow and erratic. “Get Merrin out of here, get her help.” As gently as he could, he accelerated her toward the Mantis, pushing her away faster and faster. Another pain exploded in his side as a blaster bolt grazed his ribs. He watched as Cere extended her arm and he felt her connection to the force take over the momentum in Merrin. He let go and raised his lightsaber up, deflecting another blaster bolt. He had tried to reflected, it, but he was too tired, in too much pain.

“I have her Cal, now get out of there!”

Greez’s voice appeared. “We got company! TIE fighters have scrambled!”

“Get out of here!” Cal pleaded, raising his lightsaber to deflect an electrobaton of one of the purge troopers that reached him. The other two had already circled and surrounded him. “Now!”

“We’ll come back for you!” Cere’s voice was solemn as the Mantis’ ramp retracted and the ship flew away.

“Get the kid to the back!” Greez yelled, his voice coming over the com.

“She’s not breathing!” Cere yelled back, panicked.

Cal’s lightsaber was knocked to the side by one of the purge troopers batons, the other slamming into the side of his face as he began to taste blood. “Aw, you can’t be done yet! We haven’t had our fun!” The trooper swung his baton down, knocking Cal’s lightsaber out of his hand as another baton behind him drilled into the small of his back, pain shooting through every nerve in his body as he screamed in agony. Another baton hit him in the blaster wound in his arm as yet another slammed into the base of his neck. His vision went white with the torturous pain, then everything faded into black.


	18. Chapter 18

Cal sucked air into his lungs, dust pulling into his mouth as he came to consciousness on the cold floor. Pain throbbed all over his body, and his head spun. He pushed up and looked around, but his vision remained cloudy. He closed his eyes to try to focus, and the memories came flooding back to him. He saw Merrin laying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. He heard Cere and Greez panicking over the com. Tears pooled in his eyes and fell down his cheeks. “Merrin… please… be alive.” He forced himself up and brought his hands up to his eyes to rub them despite their aching protest. When he pulled away, he found his vision was still blurry, and the room spun around him, but he could make out some details. A single metal shelf with a crude blanket on it, a bucket, and a glowing force field leading to a hallway, a similar cell across from his. He was in a prison cell.

Just outside the force field stood a purge trooper watching him, an electrostaff slung on his back. “Aw, is the poor Jedi crying? Is it because you got captured? Or maybe it’s because of that girl we killed, or that ship that got blown up trying to run away.” Cal’s eyes widened and his breath stopped in his throat. “Stupid fools tried to outrun a squadron of TIE fighters.”

His head pounded as his breath quickened, rage filling his heart. “You’re lying!”

The purge trooper chuckled. “It doesn’t really matter whether you believe me or not. It’s not like you’re leaving this place alive, at least not unless Lord Vader wants you, then you’ll just wish you were dead.”

The rage caused his body to ache more, and he found himself falling back to the floor, unable to keep himself up, sobbing quietly. The purge trooper laughed as he walked away. Cal could only curl up on the floor, trying to ignore the pain. “He was lying, they’re alive. He was lying. He was lying.” He kept repeating the words as the tears continued to spill out of his eyes.

Water splashed over him. He hadn’t noticed that he had fallen asleep, but he jolted awake. His muscles still ached, but they no longer screamed at him with every movement. He still felt lightheaded, but his vision was clearer. Above him stood two purge troopers and a stormtrooper, the stormtrooper holding a bucket while the two purge troopers flanked him, both of them holding activated electrostaves. The one on the left spoke first. “Did you have a nice nap?” He pulled his staff back and thrust it into Cal’s ribs, the impact forcing the air out of his lungs as the electricity seized every muscle in his body, his lungs burning as they tried to suck in air through a closed throat. As soon as it began, it ended as the purge trooper withdrew his staff, and Cal was able to gasp in a breath, though it immediately left him as he coughed violently. Both purge troopers laughed. “I guess this Jedi isn’t so tough, after all.”

“We’ll get started on him tonight. I’ve got plans to get him prepared for Lord Vader.” Cal could feel the cruel grin through the other purge trooper’s helmet as he spoke.

The first purge trooper looked to the white-armored stormtrooper. “Keep guard over him until we return.”

The stormtrooper’s shoulders slumped. “But, he’s not going anywhere and I’ve been on duty for twenty two hours, sir.”

“Did I stutter?”

The stormtrooper hesitated for a moment before answering, defeat in his voice. “As you command, sir.” Both purge troopers left the cell and walked down the hall as the stormtrooper exited right outside the cell and activated the forcefield, the dull hum and red light emanating across the doorway.

Cal lay still for a moment, trying to collect himself. His entire body ached, the electrostaff feeling like it had reopened every one of his wounds. He closed his eyes and tried to focus, forcing the image of Merrin’s lifeless body out of his mind. “They’re all alive. He was lying. The empire always lies.” He sat up, forcing the dizziness away and focused on centering himself. He opened himself up to the world around him, feeling the force in the cell he was in, the people inhabiting the base, the trees and creatures on the mountain. He felt the force in the mountain itself, ancient and massive. He allowed the force to fill him, granting him the peace of the mountain. He breathed deeply, pushing the pain in his lungs away. The force filled him with every breath, steadying the spinning world around him and soothing the throbbing of his wounds into a dull ache. He opened his eyes, and the world had stopped spinning around him. He was injured, and he had lost a bit of blood, he could tell, but he felt his connection to the force sustaining him.

“Arrogant special forces jerks, thinking they’re better than everyone else…” Cal looked up at his guard. The stormtrooper had spoken quietly, but he had heard it.

He stared at the trooper for a moment, gathering his wits. Cere had shown him exactly what to do before, they had trained in it. He closed his eyes and once again the image of Merrin, bleeding on the concrete filled his mind. He pushed it down. ‘It’s a lie. I’ll prove it’s a lie. I’m coming back to you, Merrin.’ His thoughts drowned out the image. ‘I’m coming back to you to tell you that I love you, to tell you how sorry I am that I pushed you away. I don’t care what you said to me, I love you.’ He stood up, stumbling for only a moment, and approached the trooper. He reached out with the force and touched the trooper’s mind. “They don’t respect you.”

The trooper whirled around and raised his weapon. “Back off!”

“I’m in a cell, what could I do?”

The trooper hesitated for a moment. “Yeah. You’re in a cell.”

Cal focused on the trooper, felt the force through him and pushed gently against his mind. “The purge troopers, they don’t respect you.”

The trooper paused, then shook his head. “They don’t. They think I’m just some lackey.”

“They enjoy the hunt. If you gave them one, they would respect you.”

The trooper’s blaster rifle lowered. “Yeah, I could prove that I’m just as good as they are.”

Cal took a deep breath and pushed into his mind just a little harder. “You want to tell me where my lightsaber is.”

The stormtrooper looked off to his left. “We put your gear in the storage area, three cells down.”

Cal raised his hand, two fingers raised to focus his attention. “You want to let me out of this cell.”

The trooper stopped. He turned toward Cal, the grip on his weapon tightening. “No. You’re a… prisoner?”

Cal took one more deep breath, easing his push into the trooper’s mind, making his voice a massage rather than a push. “You want to let me out of this cell.”

The stormtrooper looked at him. “I want to let you out of this cell.” He reached down, unclipped an access card from his belt, and swiped it over the control panel. The force field between the two retreated into the walls.  
Cal let himself smile, but quickly squashed his pride. ‘You’re not out of this yet, Cal’ he thought to himself. He looked back into his cell, seeing only a small bucket and the metal shelf with a single blanket on it. He looked back to the trooper. “That bed looks comfortable, and you look so tired.”

“I am pretty…” the trooper stifled a yawn. “Tired.” He stumbled forward, into the cell, and fell onto the prison cot. “I’m just gonna take a few minutes…”

Cal stepped forward and snagged the access card from the stormtroopers belt, exited the cell, and reactivated the forcefield as the stormtrooper within began to snore. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “I did it! I can’t believe I did it!” His joy subsided as his side screamed in pain during his quiet outburst. He shook the pain off and headed three doors down where the trooper had looked, using the access card to open the door. Within was several lockers and a workbench, and on the bench was Cal’s utility belt, his com, and his lightsaber. He quickly put his utility belt back on and grabbed his com. He activated it and brought it up to his lips. “Cere, Greez, it’s Cal. Come in.” Silence filled the room. He pressed the transmitter again. “Cere, Greez, please come in.” His eyes closed as the silence once again took over. He heard the purge trooper’s voice saying the Mantis had been destroyed, but he pushed it down. “They’re alive, this place is just shielded. They’re alive.” He quickly pocketed the com and grabbed his lightsaber, holding it up and activating it. The yellow blade extended in front of him, and he found comfort in having his weapon back in his hands. He turned it off and clipped it to his belt, turned, and moved slowly out of the room. His gait was slow and awkward, the wound on his leg causing him to limp.

A terminal caught Cal’s attention. He approached it and used the keycard to activate it, bringing up a map of the compound. “Okay, I’m still on the ground floor, and the service tunnels are just a couple of halls over.” He planned out a route through the compound to get to those tunnels, then turned to leave. Without warning, a loud alarm blared throughout the halls, and a red light flashed around him over and over. “Damnit, it didn’t take them long to find out.” He picked up his pace, forcing his injured leg to move despite the pain, reciting the words Jaro Tapal had said to him in his training. “Pain is an illusion, the force flows through me.”

“There he is!” Cal instinctively raised his lightsaber and deflected a blaster bolt into the wall as he turned to see two stormtroopers closing in on him, their blaster rifles raised. He pushed toward them with the force and knocked them both off their feet, turning a corner and rushing down the hall, sucking in breath as he desperately forced the pain in his body down.

“Just around that corner…” Cal turned the corner and slammed into a purge trooper, his two electrobatons out. The both of them fell backward after they crashed into each other. Cal wasted no time, he ignited his lightsaber and pushed himself up with a grunt. As the purge trooper stood, Cal swung his lightsaber down, not wanting to give him any openings.

The purge trooper swung his batons wildly over his head as he stood, deflecting the blow. “I don’t think so, Jedi!” He pushed forward, thrusting his batons out over and over. Cal swung his lightsaber around, deflecting the thrusts before letting his legs collapse and falling to the ground, swinging his weapon across the purge trooper’s legs as he fell. The trooper let out a scream as he fell, no longer attached to his legs, let go of his batons, and reached for the stumps where Cal had cut him nearly in half. Cal wasted no time, rolled over, and brought his lightsaber down on the purge trooper’s throat, cutting his head clean off.

He ignored the limp body of the purge trooper, cut into four parts, and the smell of blood and charred flesh he had come to despise, as well as the wetness running down his arm where his wound had reopened during his roll. “I will get back to her.” He forced himself up and rushed to the service hatch on the floor behind the dead trooper. It appeared locked with a physical key, but Cal simply thrust his lightsaber through the lock and pulled the hatch open with the force. Inside was total darkness. Voices approached from all around him, so he swallowed his fear and jumped in. The fall was longer than he had anticipated, but his active lightsaber lit the ground below him before he hit. The wound in his leg forced him to his knees when he did land, forcing a pained grunt from him. He reached up, closed the hatch with the force, and hoped no one noticed the burn mark on the floor where he had escaped.

Footsteps sounded from just above the hatch ten feet above him, and muffled voices came just after. Cal turned off his lightsaber just in case, plunging him into total darkness, but after a moment, the footsteps and voices became fainter. He let out a sigh of relief and let the bright blade come out again. The service tunnels were tall, but thin, corrugated metal covered the walls, and ladder rungs led up to the hatch he had jumped from. He allowed himself to relax for a moment before continuing forward, moving slowly through a small maze of thin corridors.

Before long, water dripped from the walls and the metal began to widen and become more rusted and full of holes, showing the rock underneath. The floor became slick, and he found himself catching his legs from slipping out from under him more than once. The smell was getting stronger as well, refuse and filth permeated the air. He found it likely that the imperial compound’s sewage system ran through this place. A light went off in his head. “If the sewage goes through here, then it probably heads to the river.” Cal smiled, and continued down the path as the metal gave way to nothing but rock, water, and foul air. He pulled out his com once more. “I’ve got to be far enough away now.” He pushed the small button on the side to transmit. “Cere, Greez, this is Cal. Come in.” Cal waited for a moment and heard nothing. “Cere, Greez, please, come in.” Silence. He pushed his fear down once more and put the com away. “I have to be too far underground, that’s it. I’ll get them when I reach the surrrrrraaaaaAAAHH!”

Cal’s legs gave way and he fell to his back, sliding down a slick rock tunnel into the darkness. He slid for only a moment before being ejected out into a large cavern, falling through the air and toward some hard dirt ground. He pushed himself with the force and landed on his feet silently, though still dropping to one knee from the pain that exploded through his leg when he did. He held himself still, seeing the cavern around him. A single beam of light shone through a crack in the ceiling, partially illuminating the rock around him, shining down on a large, flat face. Cal jumped back, startled, and his breath caught in his throat. He knew this face. The large, flat face, the enormous body, and the long claws of the sleeping beast were infamous throughout the galaxy. Cal slowly backed away from the adult rancor as its low rumbling growl vibrated through the ground. “What the hell is this thing doing here?” he whispered to himself. He continued to back away, his foot catching on a rock. He slowly lifted his leg and stepped on it before tripping over it. His foot gave way, and the sound echoed through the cavern. His gaze jolted down to see what he had stepped on. It was no rock. It was a bone, and it had snapped under his weight. His eyes turned back toward the rancor, whose eyes were now open and staring right at him. The enormous beast brought a massive clawed hand forward and slammed it on the ground with an earthshattering crash and pushed itself to its feet, its eyes never leaving Cal. It leaned forward and let loose a deafening roar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we have Cal, no Merrin, no BD, no backup, extremely injured, and he just woke up a rancor. I'm sure he'll be JUST fine. Heh heh heh.


	19. Chapter 19

The rancor’s hand swept to the side catching Cal as he raised his lightsaber to block it. The blade sunk into the hand, but it was the same size as he was and it continued undeterred, slamming into him and sending him spiraling across the cavern. The rancor roared in pain as Cal tumbled across the stone ground, dirt and grime smearing across his body as his skin scraped against the rock. He groaned as he pushed himself up, the smell of filth and blood and dirt assaulting his nose. Without warning, the large clawed hand slammed down on him, and his leg twisted unnaturally as the claws wrapped around him. He let out a grunt as the rancor picked him up, the pressure of its hold on him crushing his body. He felt his ribs pressed painfully, driving the air from his lungs until a sharp pain pierced through his chest and he heard an audible snap. A strangled scream escaped his mouth as his lightsaber fell to the ground below. He looked up, and saw the rancor’s maw getting closer, thick saliva dripping from its rows of fangs.

He reached forward, grabbing the beast’s tongue with the Force, and yanked it toward him as hard as he could. The tongue flew out of its mouth further than seemed possible and pushed against his arm and face, coating him with foul, viscous spit. The rancor let out a gurgling whine as the shock forced his grip on Cal to loosen. He used the opportunity to focus his mind and used the force to force everything away from him. The energy exploded away from him, cracking lightning through the cavern, and he found himself falling toward the ground. He tried to roll to land on his feet, but every movement made his ribs scream in pain and his head pound. The ground slammed into him as he landed on his side, his arm taking the brunt of the fall and going numb. As he pushed himself up once more, he could see the bloodstain he left on the ground.

He quickly scanned the area and found what he searched for, reaching his good hand out and drawing his lightsaber back to him. As soon as he caught the weapon, he activated it and threw it right at the rancor’s ankle. The bright blade illuminated its path as it spun, slicing through the beast’s flesh, a spurt of black blood trailing down its giant clawed foot as it reared back and roared in pain. Its advance was undeterred as Cal drew the weapon back to him, the blade having not penetrated as deeply as he had hoped. He focused desperately and used all his might to push against the monster advancing on him, watching the force push rocks and wind away from him like a hurricane. The rancor was hit by the force of the blast and stopped, taking one step back. It hesitated, then looked back down at the Jedi and began its advance again.

Cal stepped back, every breath he took causing fire in his chest. He looked up at the crack in the ceiling of the cave and formulated a plan. The Rancor reached out to him, and Cal crouched down, every part of him in pain. “Pain is an illusion, the Force flows through me.” The moment the claw reached him, he leapt up on the hand and threw out a hand, punching the rancor in the eye with the force. The enormous creature’s head reeled back and its hand quickly raised up to its face. Cal used the momentum to leap off the hand as it reached high enough and jumped toward the opening. He reached out with his good arm, just reaching the ledge. He grabbed onto it and hung, the rancor below reaching up to him. As he pulled himself up, lightning exploded through his side where his ribs had broken, and his fingers slipped from the ledge.

The daylight above him fell away in slow motion as he plummeted back toward death. He allowed himself only that split-second to mourn before remembering his master’s teachings. “You cannot be defeated until you allow yourself to be defeated.” Jaro Tapal used to tell him. “You say you have failed. Good! Keep failing! Keep getting back up! That is the only path to victory!” Cal’s eyes opened with a fierceness and he turned, facing the rancor below him. He ignited his lightsaber, swatted away the hand that reached for him, and turned the blade downward, driving it through the rancor’s jaw as he fell. The yellow blade pierced the beast’s tongue down through its chin. Cal hung on as his blade cut forward through the jaw, splitting its mandible in two as it let out an ear-piercing scream, viscous blood spilling from its face as it thrashed around. Its giant hands collided with the stone walls, sending boulders crashing to the ground, splashing in the trails of vile blood it left in its wake.

Cal backed away, keeping watch over the boulders as they fell until he saw his salvation. A wall crumbled with an impact, revealing a small crack in the side of the cavern, darkness showing within, and his connection with the force showed him clarity. That was his way out. A tiny, pained chuckle left his lips as he recited another of his master’s favorite sayings. “What stands in the way becomes the way.” He looked over the rancor as it stumbled around and thrashed wildly, and grabbed its injured ankle with the force, pulling as hard as he could as it stepped backward. The rancor let out a surprised yelp as it tripped backward, flailing around on its back. He had started before the beast hit the ground and hobbled toward the tiny crevasse, turning to his side and squeezing into it. The stone pressed into his body painfully, but he kept moving, the rage-filled roars of the rancor slowly fading behind him.

Stale, moist air partially filled his lungs as the narrow stone corridor widened into a full cave. Cal slowly stumbled forward. His body begged him to stop, to lay down, to give up, but he ignored it. “Pain is an illusion, the force flows through me”. The rough natural stone surfaces bathed in yellow light by his lightsaber surrounded him, every flat surface an invitation to lay down. “They’re alive. They’re waiting for me. They’re alive.” He pulled out his com and pressed the button on his transmitter. “Cere, Greez, Merrin, please come in.” Silence followed, only the sound of Cal’s shuffling footsteps broke the stillness. He pressed the button again. “Mantis, please, please come in.” He felt the tears fall down his cheeks, but he pressed on, putting the com back into its pouch on his utility belt. “I’m still too deep underground. They’re there, they’re alive. All of them.” He forced himself forward.

After what seemed like miles of pitch-black caves, a light appeared as he turned a corner, blinding white light shined through an opening in front of him. He hobbled forward, getting closer and closer to the light. As his eyes adjusted and the light grew around him, he saw leaves around the exit to the cave. As he crossed the threshold the light surrounded him, and he felt as though he had never seen such brightness before. Slowly, everything came into focus as he stumbled forward into branches and grasses. He stopped, closed his eyes, and centered himself. As he opened his eyes once more, the nature of the mountain surrounded him. The soft rushing of water sounded to his left, and birds sung in the trees that surrounded him. He let himself smile as he absorbed the life around him.

His smile faded as he pressed forward down the mountain. He could see the coast from the tree line he was behind as he pulled out his com again. He looked to the sky. Nothing was above him except empty air. Nothing could stop his signal now. He took as much of a breath as his ribs would allow and pressed the button for transmission. “Cere, Greez, Merrin, this is Cal. Please come in.” A moment passed, and the only sound he heard was the water within the river and beach, the wind, and the birds. His breath quickened, and the tears continued down his face once more. “Cere, Greez, Merrin, please. Please, please come in…” his voice trailed off as he fell to his knees. His breath got quicker as he tried not to fall into sobbing. “Please…”

“Cal!”

Cal’s eyes shot open as he raised the com up. “Cere!”

“Cal, we read you!” Cere’s voice came through his com loudly, and the tears streaming down Cal’s cheeks became tears of joy and relief. “I’m so glad to hear your voice. We’re about a light-minute away, but we’ve pinpointed your position and we’re heading to you now. Hold tight.”

Cal let his body fall to the ground, exhaustion finally claiming him. They were alive. His eyes shot open as the vision of Merrin’s lifeless body invaded his mind once more. “Merrin! Please tell me she’s okay!”

The minute delay it took for a response to come in from the Mantis felt like an eternity, Cal’s breath getting quicker and quicker with every second that passed. Cere’s voice came through at last. “Merrin’s alive. She’s… stable. We’ll explain everything to you once you get on board. We’re calculating the jump to hyperspace to inside Alderaan’s atmosphere and then out again quickly so we don’t get caught in an imperial ambush again.”

Cal’s head collapsed into the grass below him, the painful throbbing all over his body fading slightly. “They’re alive.” The words were no longer defiant, like he was trying to convince himself, but factual. He smiled once more despite the pain. “They’re all alive. Merrin’s alive. Cere’s alive. Greez is alive. BD’s alive.” His eyes closed, and he let the tears continue as exhaustion took him over completely.

Thunder sounded near him. His eyes opened to see the familiar shape of the Mantis, though the coloring was different. The white and orange paintjob the Mantis once had was gone. The ship sported a deep green coloring all over it now. The ramp extended and Cere exited the ship, however, reaching him and holding out her hand. “You look terrible.”

Cal looked up to his friend, sunlight surrounding her frame, and smiled up at her. “You look beautiful.”

Cere let out a small laugh, took his hand, and pulled him to his feet. “Now I know you’re delirious.” She slung his arm over her shoulder and guided him up the ramp. As soon as they entered the ship, she called out. “We’re in, let’s get out of here!”

The door closed behind them as Cere guided Cal to the back. The moment they entered the engine room, he immediately noticed Merrin. She lay on his cot, dark circles under her eyes, and a bag of fluid hanging over her, a tube connecting the bag to her arm. She lay still, but her chest rose and fell slowly. Cere sat him down on another cot, set up on the opposite wall to his and placed a hand on his shoulder, laying him down. “She’s still really hurt, but she should be okay.”

“Her injuries were severe, but I am confident she should make a full recovery.” A droid stepped toward Cal. It looked much like a security droid, but the face held a glowing module where its mouth would be that shined every time it talked.

Cere gestured to the droid. “This is a medical droid Senator Organa gave us. We took Merrin back to the spaceport, and he gave us some medical supplies and a medical droid to keep watch over her.”

“I am KM-25, medical specialist and nutritional expert.” The droid shined a laser over Cal. “You seem to have lost about a liter of blood, and you have several broken ribs and many bruised muscles. Please lie down and I will administer treatment.”

Cal lay down on the cot and looked to Merrin. “It sounds like he really took care of us.”

“Where is he?!? Greez rushed into the room nearly bumping into Cere. His eyes locked onto Cal. “Oh, kid, am I glad you’re okay!”

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Greez.” He looked back up to the older Jedi. “You too, Cere.”

“We were almost done with our rescue plan when you called.” Greez let a smile appear on his face. “I guess you didn’t need it, huh?”

“I could’ve used it, though.” Cal chuckled a little before grunting in pain. A familiar droid jumped up onto the cot right next to him, beeping and whistling excitedly. “Hey BD. You don’t know how happy I am to see you again, too.” The droid let out a series of beeps and trills, and Cal’s eyes found Merrin’s sleeping form. “I know you did, buddy. She’s alive because of you. I’m really proud of you.” It let out another series of happy trills before nuzzling against his chest. Cal sucked in a breath as its small weight sent shocks of pain through him.

The humanoid medical droid reached down and pressed a needle into his side, and the pain immediately began to recede. “The bacta will keep your vitals stable, and the kolto will begin regeneration of your bone and muscle tissues. Estimated recovery time is two months. It is recommended you enter a nano-tank as soon as possible to expedite your recovery.”

“I hope Saw has one.” Greez placed a hand on Cal’s shoulder. “We’re in hyperspace now, heading back to Hoth. You’re safe.”

Cal let his hand reach up and cover Greez’s “I don’t know what we would do without you, Greez. Thank you. For everything.”

Greez’s gaze hit the floor. “Aw, I didn’t do much of anything.”

“You saved my life.” Cal kept looking at Greez until he met his eyes. He then looked up to Cere. “So did you.”

Cere smiled down at him and placed her hand over his. “What are friends for?”

Cal nodded as his eyes grew heavier. “Thank you for coming back for me.”

Greez squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll never leave you behind, Cal.”

“Never.” Cere’s eyes met his as his vision got cloudy. “Get some sleep.”

Cal looked over his companions. BD sat right next to him on the cot, Cere and Greez stood over him, and Merrin slept across from him. “I know. We’re a family, aren’t we?” He watched the two nod at him nearly in unison. His eyes got heavier and heavier as the light around him began to fade. “You’ll all be here when I wake up, right?”

“You bet we will.” Greez let go of his shoulder as he fell into a sleep, all the worries and pains he had carried with him fading away, replaced by the comfort of the people he loved surrounding him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally home again. Those were a really fun few chapters to write. Lots of action, and I got to try my hand at suspense. I think I did reasonably well at it. Anyway, next chapter soon! We're about at the home stretch!


	20. Chapter 20

Cal faded in an out of consciousness. He had no idea how long he lay there, the large black medical droid looming over his form. At one point when he had awoken, Merrin was gone. He had gotten used to seeing her laying just across from him, and panicked slightly when she was missing, only to see her limp into the room a moment later to lay back onto the cot. His nerves calmed as he watched her lay back down on the cot, and their eyes met. She simply smiled at him and let out a single word. “Cal…” Her eyes were half closed with dark circles hanging under them as she relaxed back onto the bed.

Cal could only smile lazily back at her. “Merr… in…” Darkness overtook him once more.

When he woke again, he felt much less cloudy. Cere and Greez stood by him, and Merrin sat up on the cot across from his. He took in a deep breath, his ribs protesting much less than they had. “How long was I out?”

“Most of the day.” Cere sat down next to him. “Fortunately, Organa had quite a bit of kolto to spare. It’s nice stuff.”

Cal looked himself over. Most of his wounds had closed, though he was still covered by angry purple bruises over his exposed skin. “Yeah. My ribs still hurt, but I’m feeling a bit better.” He looked right at Merrin, who averted her eyes as soon as his met hers. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Merrin looked back up at him for a moment. “I am also glad you are alive.”

Greez leaned back against the workbench. “What happened to you down there?”

Cal sat back, allowing his back to rest against the bulkhead. “After you guys left, I was captured by the troopers down there. They said they were going to prepare me for that ‘Lord Vader’ person.”

“The leader of the Inquisitors.” Cere’s eyes found the floor. “He was the one who we met at the fortress. He was the one who stabbed you.”

Cal took a long, slow breath. “I managed to pull off the mind trick with the guard outside my door and escaped through the caves under the facility. It wasn’t easy, especially through that rancor.”

All three of the others’ gazes rushed to Cal immediately. “There was a rancor down there?” Cere asked? “How did it even get there?”

“I was asking myself the same question.”

“It’s not so surprising.” Greez shrugged. “Back during the Republic days it was all the rage for nobles to own a pet rancor, especially on the core worlds. They also eat basically anything, so the empire putting one down there to deal with the base’s trash makes a little sense.”

“Still, you fought against a rancor and survived. This is most impressive.” Merrin gave Cal a tired smile. “I do not know why I would be surprised, though. You did defeat the Gorgara, after all.”

Cal tilted his head in confusion. “You’ve seen a rancor before?”

“They are native to Dathomir. They stay in the flatlands, however. They are the reason our monastery was in the mountains.”

“Yeah, poachers often travel to Dathomir to capture young rancors to sell on the black market.” Greez shook his head as he moved to the door, leaning against the frame. “It’s dangerous, but you can make a lot of money with just one.”

“I bet. Not too many people would survive hunting those things.” Cal closed his eyes for a moment, still feeling extremely tired despite all the rest he had gotten. He looked up to Merrin. “Did we at least get the information we were looking for?”

Merrin’s face fell as disappointment came over her features. “No, I never made it into the memory room.” BD-1 let loose a series of beeps and whistles. “BD-1 did download some information from one of the terminals, we at least know which ship this weapon is on.”

Cal nodded. “That’s something, at least.”

The four sat in silence for a moment before Greez slapped Cere on the arm lightly. She looked at him, nodded, and turned back to Cal. “Well, we should let you two get some rest. I’m glad you made it out, Cal. And I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks Cere. Not just for that, but for everything. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.” Call looked to all the people that surrounded him. “For all of you.”

Cere put her hand on top of his for a moment before withdrawing it and standing up, her and Greez exiting the engine room.

Merrin watched them leave, her lips pursed in worry. Once they had left, she turned to Cal. “I must speak with you.”

Cal looked at her intently. “Yeah, I need to talk to you, too.” He noted her eyes constantly shifting to be away from his. “But you go first. Please.”

Merrin’s nod was almost nothing. “I am sorry. You…” Her breath caught in her throat. “You are not a coward, Cal. You saved my life, and you nearly gave yours in doing so.” Her eyes finally met his. “You are the bravest man I know. You told me of your past, of your master, and I used that against you.” Her eyes moved away from his once more, shame coming over her features. “I was wrong, and I only hope you can forgive me for it.”

Cal could feel the tears brimming in his eyes, but he pushed them back. He knew he needed clarity. “There’s nothing to forgive, Merrin.”

“But I…”

“You were right about something. I was afraid. I refused to act because of what I feared might happen. I made you wait without giving you an answer for a long time. I was so terrified of hurting you that I ended up hurting you. I only hope you can forgive me.”

Their eyes locked, and Merrin’s lower lip quivered. “There is nothing to forgive, Cal. You were right. I did not understand what this ‘dark side’ is to you. But I saw your face when the imperial pilot attacked me, and what I saw scared me. Take the time you need, Cal. As I said, no matter what, I wish to be your friend.”

The two stayed in silence for a moment before Cal broke it. “I have had time. I’ve had plenty of time to think.” Merrin’s breath quickened as he spoke, her eyes growing wide. “Merrin, I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I am so, so sorry.”

Merrin stood up as he spoke, letting out a pained grunt, and placed a finger over his lips. A small smile appeared on her gray lips. “It is alright.” She looked up to him, her eyes brimming with tears. “I understand. I am a nightsister, you are a Jedi. It was never going to be possib…” Cal cut her off, standing up next to her and pressing his lips to hers. Her lips tensed as she grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him away, her eyes narrowed in anger as tears fell down her cheeks. “Stop it! You cannot just kiss me and push me away!”

“MERRIN!” Cal yelled, catching her off guard. She stood in stunned silence for a moment, but it was the only moment he needed. “Let me finish.” He took a deep breath. “Merrin, I am so, so sorry that I ever pushed you away. When you got injured, I didn’t care about vengeance, I just wanted to make sure you lived. When I was in that hell down there, those imperials told me you were dead. I kept my strength just so I could prove them wrong. I was so afraid you might have been dead, but the memory of you kept me going. I was so afraid you were going to be my weakness, but you were my greatest strength. I wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for you.” He placed his hand against her cheek and used his thumb to wipe away some tears. “I love you, Merrin, and I never want to be without you.”

Merrin’s breathing was shallow the entire time. Her eyes widened with his proclamation of love, and her tears stopped, leaving wet streaks down her face. “Cal” she let out breathlessly. “I love you too. I never wish to be without you.” His face closed to hers, but stopped when she put a hand on his chest. “You will make me a promise now.” she demanded.

“Anything.”

Merrin’s eyes pierced right through him. “You will never push me away again.” She refused to let him answer, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his. His arms wrapped around her back as she pressed herself against him painfully, their eyes closed as they relished in their kiss. Cal’s hand reached up her back and cupped the back of her head, and the electricity her lips were conducting into his made him bold. He pushed his tongue out and probed her lips, only to be greeted by her opening her mouth and pushing her tongue into his mouth. She hooked his tongue with hers and pulled it in. Their tongues danced together in their kiss as she raised a leg to wrap around his. She moaned into his mouth as he turned her and pinned her against the wall. Their kiss broke for only a moment, their eyes opening halfway to stare lovingly at each other. “I love you Cal. I love you with all my heart.”

“Merrin…” his voice was quiet, breathless. “I love you too. I love you more than anything.” He leaned in to continue their kiss. He saw her face, the dark circles under her eyes, the tired expression, and he couldn’t help but think she was the most beautiful woman in the galaxy.

“Oh, Cal…” Her lips pressed against his as their tongues continued their dance. Cal smiled into her mouth as the taste of spice and fire filled his. His ribs ached as she pressed into him, but the little squeaks she made as they explored each other’s mouths drove any discomfort out of his mind. Her hands rubbed over his back as he trailed fingers up and down her spine.

“Cal.”

He couldn’t help but lose all feeling except their kiss, the euphoria clouding all his senses. His injuries seemed so far away and he felt Merrin’s leg hooked around his thigh, her grip on him slowly tightening, getting higher and higher.

“CAL!” The two broke apart suddenly and looked to the voice. Cere stood beside them, her face somewhere between annoyance and amusement. She gestured to the cockpit with her head. “We’re at Hoth. Come on.” She turned and left.

Cal looked back to Merrin and gave her a sheepish look and an excited smile. She giggled softly. Cal found he very much enjoyed hearing her giggle. He took her hand and led her up to the front of the ship, the both of them moving slowly and limping slightly, the pain of their injuries returning to them in force now that the euphoria was beginning to fade. She let her hand slip from his as she took her normal seat by the holomap, leaning in and placing another quick kiss on his lips as she left. He winced as she let out a pained sigh as she sat, his arm instinctively coming up and holding his ribs. As he looked out over the planet below, he found the sight of the frozen wasteland strangely comforting. He thanked the force under his breath as the weather was clear for their descent, and they landed at Saw’s base without any problems. As they exited the ship on the landing pad, Cal and Merrin held onto each other for support to keep each other from falling down the ramp. Saw met the crew at the pad, the freezing weather blocked out somewhat by the newly constructed walls around them. “You guys just can’t seem to come back in one piece, can you? This was supposed to be a milk run.”

Cal smiled down at the freedom fighter. “You know us, we gotta do everything the hard way.”

“I guess. We got some new medical equipment sent to us, courtesy of Senator Organa, so we should get you back up to one hundred percent quick. We have some news, though. We’ve looked over the information you got from that base on Alderaan. The Star Destroyer that weapon is mounted on is called the Decimator. We’re working on locating it now.”

“Decimator?” Cal turned his nose up at the name. “Seems a little obvious of a name.”

Saw snorted in amusement. “I never credited the Empire with an abundance of imagination.” He turned and led the group inside the base. The interior was far more polished than the last time they had spent time there, the original bay having been converted into a hangar filled with several snow speeders, and many of the rooms deep within the base were now filled with various types of equipment. “We’ve gotten a lot of work done since you’ve been gone.”

“It’s starting to look like an actual base.” Greez’s eyes scanned over everything they passed.

Passing by many partisans through the base, Cal noticed one towering over the others waving at him excitedly. “Cal!”

Cal grinned at his new friend. “Ortas!” The group reached the large man. “You seem to be doing well.”

“We’re doing good here. It looks like you’ve been through it.” The giant bear gently laid a hand on Cal’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re back.” His smile wavered a bit. “We heard you were coming back, and, well, there’s someone that wants to talk to you too.” Before Cal could ask who, Ortas moved to the side to reveal the scarred face of LN-827, her dark hair falling over one side of her face, and her black imperial pilot’s uniform replaced by a set of tan and blue civilian clothes and a thick white parka.

Cal stared at her, stunned, his previous feelings of shame returning full force. “Hey.”

LN-827 looked down. “Hey.”

“I never really got a chance to apologize to you, not directly. I’m so sorry about what happened on Taris.”

LN-827 cut him off. “No, I’m sorry. I was so desperate to escape I didn’t even think about who I was hurting.” Her eyes came up and found Merrin’s. “I’m sorry about attacking you.”

Merrin gave her a small smile. “It is understandable why you did. I do not hold a grudge.”

LN-827 returned her small smile. “Thanks.” Her eyes found Cal’s again. “And I can understand why you wanted to protect her. At least Ortas has been showing me what’s really going on. I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m starting to see the truth about the Empire, as well as the Republic before it.” She looked up to Ortas, who placed his hand on her shoulder. The two smiled warmly at each other as she placed her hand on top of his.

Cal found Merrin’s hand finding his. He squeezed it gently. “I think we all have a lot to learn, honestly.”

Ortas looked him and Merrin over before blushing slightly, a sheepish look coming over his features. “Sorry, we should let you get to the medical bay. We just got some new nano-tanks, so you should be healed up in no time.” He stepped to the side. “It’s really good to see you, though.”

“You too, Ortas.” Cal said.

“Take care of yourselves.” Merrin nodded at LN-827. “And each other.”

The crew followed Saw into a small room with several vats filled with a transparent blue-green liquid. “We’ll get you back up in here, the doctors’ll take good care of you. We just got word of the location of this Decimator.” Saw took a pad and handed it to Cal. “It looks like it’s set to be in orbit of a densely populated planet within the week. We need to take this weapon out of commission, blueprints or no blueprints.”

Cal nodded. “I agree. Where is it heading?”

“That’s what we don’t understand yet. It’s heading for an Imperial world. There’re no rebels there, not any that act openly, anyway.” Saw slowly shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s just some imperial scrapyard in the core.”

Cal’s blood ran cold. “What world?”

“It’s called Bracca, and they just tear apart old republic and separatist ships there. Do you know it?”

Cal struggled to keep on his feet as he remembered the faces of everyone he worked with over the past five years. The faces of Prauf’s estranged family came to his mind. He had seen the picture of Prauf’s son more times than he could count. “Yeah. I know it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally. Cal and Merrin. Finally. But now Cal has something new to worry about. Let's see how that turns out. New chapter soon.


	21. Chapter 21

Cal pulled the leather breastplate over his head and reached down to buckle the straps on the side. He had spent nearly a day and a half in the nano-tank, covered in the blue-green gel that acted as the medium for the nanomachines to work on repairing his body. He was grateful for them though, his ribs had been so cracked that he would have been unable to make it to Bracca for at least a month, much less be able to fight there. But thirty-six hours in a nano-tank and he was fully healed. The door to the room slid open as Merrin walked through. She looked him over. “You look well.”

“Thanks. You look like you’re feeling a lot better too.” He smiled at her, though the smile did not reach his eyes.

She walked up to him and placed a hand on his arm. “You are worried.”

His smile faded. “Yeah. I know a lot of people on Bracca. They deserve better than being just another target for the Empire.”

“We will make sure they are not hurt.”

Cal looked into Merrin’s eyes. The intensity of her gaze exuded confidence. She wasn’t reassuring him. She said it as though it were fact. Her words warmed his heart. The way she simply stated things made everything so possible for him. Her confidence, from the time she simply stated she would convince Cere and Greez that she’ll be joining them when they met on Dathomir to the way she told him she was coming with him on Rishi brooked no disagreement. It was one of the first things he fell for about her. “Yeah. We’ll make sure of it.”

She stepped toward him, ignoring the dispassionate gazes of the medical droids that inhabited the room. “I am told the journey to Bracca will take nearly a week.” Her lips closed on his and he found his eyes closing, matching her half-lidded expression. “I wish we had more time to prepare.” With those words she breezed past him and exited through the door, leaving him aching for her kiss.

Cal laughed out loud as he followed her. “You’re a bit of a tease, you know that?”

She shrugged as she walked ahead of him, leading him through the corridors to the hangar. “I felt it fair to give you something to look forward to.”

As they walked, Cal silently thanked her. Her interlude had quelled most of his anxiety about this mission. The two reached the Mantis, still on the landing pad outside the base. Cal raised his hand and waved up at Cere who was exiting the ship at the top of the ramp. She waved back. “Cal, Merrin, we’re going to be ready to lift off in about ten minutes. We’re just getting some more supplies on board.”

“What kind of supplies?” Cal asked.

Cere gestured to the last couple metal chests sitting outside the ship. “A few ounces of kolto and a few liters of bacta, as well as some food, and Greez insisted on a barrel of something he called ‘knockback nectar’.”

Cal looked over the crates. “Why?”

“I dunno. He just said it was supposed to be our victory dance, whatever that means.” Cere shrugged. “Anyway, if you two want to help me get the rest of this in, we can launch.”

The next week went by quickly. The ship launched and the crew spend the time quietly, unable to make any real plans until they reached Bracca, so Cal spent most of his time meditating to keep his head clear, and Merrin gave him space to do so, though the two ended up making out a couple times when they let their guard down. Cal found himself thankful for the companionship, it kept the worst thoughts out of his mind and kept him from being overwhelmed by anxiety. From the looks Merrin gave him before and after, he could tell she felt the same.

When the ship came out of hyperspace and the blue, green, and gray planet sped toward them, all four gathered around the holomap, the planet and the star destroyer in orbit depicted in blue light over it. “Okay, that’s strange. I would’ve expected a lot more ships in orbit for a planetary bombardment.” Greez raised a hand to the controls and had the map spin the planet around. “There are only three star destroyers in orbit, and they don’t even appear to be particularly coordinated.”

Cal spun the map back around. “Can we get close to the Decimator?”

Cere shook her head. “I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s got a sophisticated sensor suite. I’m picking up their active scans from here.”

“What if I hid the ship?” Merrin asked.

Cere’s eyes met hers. “I don’t know if it would completely hide us against this. They are using active graviton sensors. I’m assuming your spell won’t make the Mantis massless.”

Merrin pursed her lips in thought. “I do not know.”

Cal let out a breath. “It also doesn’t give us much in the way of options to board it if we just get close in space.”

Greez pointed to the planet surface just under the Decimator. “We’ve seen several shuttles traveling between the ship and the planet surface. Any chance you could commandeer one?”

Cal paused, looking at Merrin. She smiled at him. “I believe we could board one without being noticed.”

He nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. We could take one to get back to the surface as well, then we get out of here.”

Merrin raised an eyebrow. “Do you know how to pilot a shuttle?”

Cal opened his mouth and froze. “Uh… no.” He looked to Greez. “I don’t suppose you want to come with?”

Greez forced out a laugh. “That’s a good one, kid.” His face did not show amusement.

“If you could disable the sensors, you wouldn’t need to get to a shuttle, you could just launch an escape pod, and we could come pick you up.” Cere pointed to the planet surface. “If you landed near that lake, it would give us a clear window to reach your position.”

Cal smiled as he nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Any chance of getting on the planet undetected?”

“With that fancy variable transponder Saw gave us, it should be a snap.” Greez grinned. “We just need to stay a good distance away from any star destroyer, but that won’t be hard. Most of their active scans seem to be directed away from us.”

Cal leaned into the map, staring at the Decimator “What are you doing?” he asked softly, addressing the ship on the map. He spun the planet around a couple times. “Is there any sign the weapon’s been used?”

“Not on the surface, everything seems clear.” Cere zoomed in on the planet surface. “We can land here. This’ll get you pretty close to some landed shuttles but also far enough away to keep them from noticing us.”

“Sounds good, we can take a tram to the staging site.” Cal looked over all his companions. “We’ll get over there, take a shuttle up, and then we’ll see. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some information on the weapon before it fires and figure out a way to disable it.”

Merrin gave him a hard look. “The star destroyer will fall here.”

Cal smiled at the Nightsister before a look of realization came over his features. “Oh, right, here.” He reached over to the seat where he had set several ponchos, grabbed a black waterproof one, and tossed it to Merrin. “It rains constantly on Bracca, and everyone wears these. You’ll fit in a lot better with one on.” He grabbed the poncho he had worn while on his work crew on Bracca and threw it over his head.

Once his poncho was on, he watched Merrin throw hers over her head, only to get caught with one shoulder resting over her face. Cal couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of his mouth. She struggled with it for a moment before pulling her head through the opening and glaring at him. “Silence.”

Cal raised his hands defensively. “Sorry.”

Greez stifled his own chuckle as he turned toward the cockpit. “Alright, I’m bringing us in. Everyone take your seats.” Merrin sat on the couch next to the holomap as Cere and Cal made their way up front. Cal stole a glance at Merrin as he crossed the threshold, sitting there in his poncho. He couldn’t help the small blush that pained his cheeks.

The descent into Bracca’s atmosphere was rough, the constant rain and wind making the ride turbulent. The ship made it to the civilian landing pad without incident and it plopped down with enough force to shake everyone. “Ah, another perfect landing.” Greez turned around in his seat and looked at Cal and Merrin, both of whom had stood and started back to the exit. “We’ll stay on board so we can come pick you up as soon as possible. You two be careful.”

Cere turned in her seat as well. “If you run into trouble, let us know. We should be able to pick you up from wherever.”

Cal nodded. “Hopefully it won’t be as we’re sliding down an exploding train this time.”

Merrin raised an eyebrow at Cal. “Are we expecting many trains to explode?”

Cere chuckled quietly. “Things do have a tendency to blow up around Cal.” She paused, the humor disappearing from her face. “But yeah, be careful, and may the Force be with you.”

“Thank you.” Cal turned with Merrin, the two exiting the ship and making their way toward the tram station as the rain immediately soaked their hair.

Merrin regarded Cal as they walked. “Exploding trains?”

“It’s a long story. It’s actually how I met Cere and Greez.”

“I would like to hear it sometime.”

Cal placed a hand on her arm as the tram’s doors opened for them and they boarded. “Sure thing.” Cal looked around over the quickly crowding car and released her arm. “We should probably stand at least a little apart, keep from attracting too much attention.”

“I disagree.” Merrin caught his hand once more and held it tightly. “If we do get into a situation, I believe we should act as in love as we can.”

His face scrunched in confusion. “What? Won’t that draw attention to us?”

She grabbed his hair and pulled him into a passionate kiss, pushing her tongue into his mouth. He squeaked at the sudden closeness, but returned it, his eyes half closing. He kept enough of his wits to look around, expecting people to start staring. He found himself surprised when even those who were looking in their direction before were now actively looking away. Just as he started to return her kiss in earnest, she broke it and turned, leaning her back against him. “See?”

Cal breathed deeply, trying to get his heartrate back down. “I see your point. Maybe keep it going a little longer next time, I was just getting into it.”

“I believe a phrase Greez has said to me is appropriate here.” She turned her head to look at him through the corner of her eye. “You snooze, you lose.”

Cal simply stared at her as a smug grin slowly formed on her face. He couldn’t help but burst into laughter, though he kept it quiet. “I’m gonna get you back for all this teasing, you know.”

Merrin turned back around, snuggling her back into him. “I certainly hope so.”

After just a few moments, the tram slowed to a halt and the doors opened. Cal gently pushed Merrin off him. “This is our stop.” The two exited the tram to see a long series of walkways suspended over the ruins of an old Republic cruiser, several imperial shuttles resting on a landing pad less than a kilometer away, their three wings jutting straight up into the air. Cal led Merrin across several walkways, the memory of the method to the madness of Bracca’s construction coming back to him surprisingly quickly. “Do you want to find somewhere secluded to make us invisible?”

“I do not believe that will work here. I cannot maintain the spell for long.” Merrin craned her head to get a better look at the imperials. “I believe I can entrance a pilot to believe we are supposed to head up to this Decimator, but this will take a moment to do.”

A light went off in Cal’s head. “What if I used the force to confuse him as well? Do you think both techniques could work together?”

She paused, thinking about what he had said. “I suppose it is worth a try.” The two made their way around the raised walkways, stepping carefully in the slick caused by the oily rain that fell on them. Before long they had reached the landing pad, the few imperial pilots that were out in the rain rushing between their ships and the cantina that had been constructed out of the hollowed out husk of a republic cruiser’s mess, cut out of its ship and placed on the other side of the platform. One pilot rushed toward the shuttle furthest out, his black uniform getting soaked in the rain. Cal and Merrin looked at each other and nodded, pushing forward and falling in behind the pilot. As he reached his ship and took cover under the nose of the craft, he pulled out a control stick and commanded the shuttle’s hatch to open. He paused, then whirled around to face the two as the ship opened to provide a ramp to the interior. Merrin wasted no time, gripping her talisman with one hand and waving her other in front of the pilot’s face. Green ghostly flame surrounded his head for a moment before fading, and he stumbled. “We are imperial officers.”

Cal raised his hand and pushed into his mind with the force. “You want to take us up to the Decimator.”

The pilot’s eyes rolled back, and he nearly fell over. Without warning, he steadied himself and looked right at the two. A tense moment went by as his gaze shifted from Cal to Merrin and back again. He shook his head. “Oh, of course sir. We can depart now if you like.”

Cal suppressed a grin. “We have business up there now, so it is best we hurry.” He did his best to sound professional.

The pilot nodded. “As you wish, sir.” He turned and walked up the ramp. Cal looked to Merrin, let out a quiet laugh, and followed.

Merrin fell in beside him. “That worked even better than I thought it would.’

“I know. I’m kind of amazed.” He met her eyes. “We really do make a good team.”

The corners of her lips raised as her eyes closed halfway, giving him a loving smile. “We do.”

The ramp rose behind them, sealing the three in the shuttle. The pilot took his seat and began his procedures to lift off. Cal and Merrin barely paid attention once they were sure he raised no alarms. The surface of Bracca fell away from the viewports in the ship as the two sat in the rear area. As the ship broke out of Bracca’s atmosphere, a sense of dread overtook Cal. Merrin immediately noticed. “Are you alright?”

Cal grabbed his forehead. “Yeah. There’s just a presence on that ship. The closer we get, the stronger it feels.”

“There is someone strong on this Decimator?”

“It’s not just the strength, the presence is familiar, and dark.”

Merrin turned toward the shuttle’s cockpit. “Pilot, is there anyone of importance on the Decimator?”

The pilot kept looking at his controls. “Lord Vader is overseeing the final testing of the sub-quark reaction cannon personally. You’ll forgive me if I just drop you off and get out of there, he has a reputation for harsh punishments to those who fail him.”

Cal’s face went pale, and his blood ran cold. “Darth… Vader….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruh roh...


	22. Chapter 22

Cal watched the shuttle leaving the hangar bay under the cloaking spell Merrin was maintaining on them. His heart raced as it cleared the containment field keeping the air in the ship, the dark presence he had felt on his way up overwhelming him. He looked to Merrin, and he could tell she felt it too. His hand found its way on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Merrin hesitated before nodding. “Yes. Though we should hurry.”

Cal nodded. “Agreed.” The two rushed together toward the exit from the hangar bay and down the corridors of the ship, the dull gray metal well-lit by rows of lights. The aesthetic reminded Cal of the Republic ships he had lived on with his master. “How long can you keep this spell up?”

“I believe I can hold it for a few more minutes.”

“In that case, we should find a terminal and have BD download the ship’s schematic, and then get to the service crawlways. They should be pretty devoid of troops.” Cal reached up and touched the droid on his back on the head to make sure he was there. “You’re up to it, right BD?” The droid whistled happily. “I can always count on you, buddy. I missed you on Alderaan.” The droid beeped sadly. “Don’t apologize, you kept Merrin safe. You did good.”

“Yes, I am grateful, BD-1.” Merrin smiled at the small droid as the two reached an intersection. She pointed at a large workstation filled with controls and screens, manned by two imperial officers in dark gray uniforms. “Is that what we are looking for?”

“Yeah, but how do we get those two away from it?” Cal quickly scanned the area around the workstation. “I don’t see any service hatches around…”

“I could pull them into the ground, but I can only hit one of them at a time, and they might call out an alarm.”

“I could hit them first, I should be able to take them both out before…” Cal took a deep breath.

Merrin sensed what he was thinking. “I know you do not wish to fight, but this is necessary. Everyone serving on board this ship must know what this weapon is. Most were likely here when they attacked Rishi.”

“Everyone feels justified in hating their enemies.”

“I know. But we do not do this out of hate. We do this because it must be done. Many will die if we do not destroy this weapon.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Cal shook his head, trying to push back the dark presence forcing doubt and fear into his mind. “I can take them both out, then you could pull them into the bulkhead so no one will find them?”

“I can.”

“Then we’ll hold guard until BD gets the information we need.” He looked up to the droid on his back. “Do you see an access terminal on their station?” BD-1 beeped. “Alright, we have a little bit of a plan. Let’s do this.”

“On the count of three, I must drop the cloaking spell to do this.”

Cal looked to the nightsister beside him and nodded, scanning the corridors around them, listening for anyone other than them and the two imperials at the workstation. Hearing nothing, he inched forward. “Okay, in three, two, one, now!” He leapt into action, activating the bright yellow blade of his lightsaber as Merrin’s spell melted away. He quickly twisted the weapon apart and threw the bottom half, cutting through both officers at the chest before they could react, the light blade leaving ugly burn scars across their ribs as they fell. Green tendrils sprung up around one body and began to drag it into the metal floor as BD-1 hopped off his back and jumped up onto the control panel, thrusting his scomp link into the access port.

The second body began to get pulled into the floor as Merrin ran up to the two by the workstation, sweat forming on her brow. “None should find them. It is more difficult than I thought to keep them from falling into the halls below us, though.”

Cal gave her a reassuring smile. “You’re doing great.” He turned his head back and forth between the two corridors of the curved hallway they found themselves in. “Come on, BD, hurry up…” The droid continued holding onto the access port, electricity jumping around his foot where the scomp link was connected to imperial systems. Footsteps and voices appeared down the hall in front of them, and two troopers appeared walking around the bend. Cal and Merrin wasted no time, Cal grabbing one with the force and pulling the trooper to him as a bolt of ichor and green flame sped past him to impact with the second trooper’s chest as the first was drawn into Cal’s lightsaber. The nightsister immediately turned her palms up and chanted under her breath, green tendrils of energy springing up and pulling the furthest body into the ground. Cal pressed himself into the wall to see further down the halls. “Come on, BD…”

Merrin finished the incantation that pulled the body nearest to them into the floor and fell to one knee. Cal was immediately by her side, holding her shoulders. She placed her hand on his. “I am alright. Channeling so much magic, especially away from a living world, is difficult is all. I will be fine.”

“We’ll rest a bit once we get into the crawlspaces.” He gave her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. BD-1 trilled happily and hopped off the control panel, running back over to Cal’s back. A holomap of the Decimator appeared in front of the two, a yellow passage sticking out from the pale blue of the rest of the map. Cal smiled. “I suppose that’s the closest entrance to the service tunnels?” The droid whistled. “Okay, let’s go.” He helped Merrin to her feet and the two rushed off in that direction. They turned a corner and bumped into another white-armored stoormtrooper. Cal’s lightsaber was out and across his torso before he even figured out what was happening. The body hit the ground, another black-burned streak running through it as Merrin sighed out a deep breath and turned her hands up. He placed his hand on hers. “No, we can just get them into the tunnels. The entrance is right here.”

Merrin tiredly nodded as she lowered her hands. Cal pulled the hatch on the ceiling open and haphazardly threw the body of the stormtrooper into it with the force. He moved just below the entrance and cupped his hands together. “After you.”

“Sure, send me up right next to the dead.” She gave him a playful, but exhausted, smile and stepped onto his hands, allowing him to boost her up. Once she had reached the darkened corridors, she lay on the grating and reached down. He jumped up and took her hand as she pulled him up. He grabbed onto the threshold and climbed the rest of the way, turned, and pulled the hatch closed with the force. Merrin’s eyes met his. “We should be hidden up here?”

Cal nodded, smiling. “We should also have access to nearly the entire ship. I don’t hear any alarms, so so far so good.”

Merrin slumped back against the bulkhead. “I am trying to share your optimism, but this place…” her voice trailed off.

“I know. I’m trying to ignore it too.” He looked up at the droid on his back. “That took a while, I assume you didn’t just download the floorplan.” BD-1 whistled, beeped, and trilled, hopping back and forth between his feet. Cal’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

“What did he say?”

“He said that the ship was never poised to attack Bracca. They came here to use the weapon against the wrecked ships that are taken apart here. Apparently, these ‘final tests’ are to record the weapon with repeated use against space-borne targets. They’re just brining wrecks up into orbit to test the weapon out.” BD-1 beeped and whistled again. “Wait, what?” The droid projected another holo image, this one of a series of cylinders and technological parts assembled in an elegant form. “BD, you’re the best.” Cal looked back to Merrin. “He downloaded the full specifications of the weapon too! It seems like most of the ship’s sensors are trained on it, so we have really detailed blueprints!”

Merrin looked up at the little droid. “You are the best droid, there is no doubt. But how can we use this to our advantage? If these are the final tests, it means the weapon is about to be used in battle. We must stop it now.”

“I dunno, I just took these things apart. You have any ideas, BD?” BD-1 beeped twice. Cal stood in stunned silence. “You can’t be serious.”

“What? Is it bad news?”

Cal looked to the floor. “Antimatter. The weapon has its own power plant, and it’s powered with antimatter. The Empire, they’re crazy.”

Confusion overtook her features. “What is antimatter?”

“Antimatter is, well, it’s difficult to explain. The important thing is that when it comes into contact with anything, it destroys it. Violently.”

Merrin reeled back. “Why would this be used to power something?”

“Well, the amount of energy it releases is tremendous. Just a gram of this stuff could power Coruscant for a month. The whole planet. But if you lose containment…” Cal’s voice trailed off as he immediately got lost in deep thought. “BD, where’s the armory? And do they have any ion grenades on board?” His eyebrows raised. “And how much antimatter are they packing?”

“What are you thinking?”

“Antimatter needs to be contained in an electromagnetic field. An ion blast shuts down all electronics. If we can get an ion grenade near the power core, it would destabilize the containment and destroy the weapon completely.”

“And you asked about the amount of antimatter?”

“If they’re carrying too much, the explosion would take out the whole ship, and us along with it. Way too much, and it could rip the atmosphere off of Bracca.”

Merrin’s eyes went wide. “So we do not wish for much.”

“No.” The droid whistled a couple more times, followed by a string of beeps. “Oh, that’s a great idea!” He patted the droid on the head. “What would I do without you?” His eyes met Merrin’s again. “The power core is holding nearly a gram, but there’s an injector far enough away that holds just enough for one weapon discharge, and apparently there are ion grenades on board, AND they’re on our way. Bad news, they’re both on the other side of the ship.”

Merrin let out a tired chuckle. “At least it will give me time to rest.”

Cal let out his own chuckle. “There’s that optimism.” He held out his hand and helped her to her feet. “Come on, let’s get going.”

The two moved silently along the dark, cramped corridors, watching the stormtroopers and imperial officers move below the grating they walked on. Fragments of conversations reached them, but not enough to make any sense of. As the two walked, the dark presence in their mind got stronger and stronger until it pulled at them intensely down a thin corridor off their path. The two looked at each other, an understanding in their eyes. They both knew they had to know if Darth Vader knew they were on board. Cal squeezed down the thin path first, Merrin right behind him. The two ended up in a small cube of a room, no more than a meter in any direction. In front of them was a grate, and in front of that was a large circular room. In the center stood the figure of a man Cal would never forget. The tall, shining black armor, full helmet, flowing cape, and wheezing breath of Darth Vader stood in the center of the room, a raised holoprojector in front of him. Over the projector was the image of a dark hood, the face completely obscured by it. At Vader’s feet, a little girl with long auburn hair played with a doll. Voices echoed through the large room.

“… testing is proceeding as planned.” Vader finished speaking.

“Good. You have done well, my apprentice.” The holo image chuckled.

Cal’s eyes widened in shock. “Apprentice?” he whispered to himself.

Vader gestured to the little girl. “Master, why have you sent this girl to me?”

“Mara will be very useful. Surely you can feel how strong she is with the force.”

“She is a child. What use will she be to me?”

“I know you hunt for the Jedi you faced on Nur. You passed by four other planets you could have tested the weapon on to make your way here. The child and I are connected. I see what she sees. I feel what she feels. I have felt your intentions. The Jedi will be in your hands soon enough.”

Vader looked down at the girl, who continued to play at his feet, seemingly oblivious to the conversation the two had. “As you wish.”

“I am curious, why did you choose Bracca? This world seems to have no connection to the Jedi you seek.”

“Cere Junda has taken another apprentice. The apprintice has a connection to this place, and where he goes, she will as well.” He looked back up to the holo image. “I sense they are close.”

The holo image’s head raised up. “They are closer than you think. You are being watched, Lord Vader.” Without warning, the little girl’s head popped up and she dropped her doll. She looked right at Cal and Merrin though the grate and pointed directly at them.

Vader’s helmet followed her finger as Cal’s heart jumped into his throat. He raised his black-gloved hand and slowly clenched his fist. The walls of the small opening the two were in immediately crunched down around them as the metal screamed in protest, the one opening behind them being crushed closed. The metal continued to grind and screech as it was forced inward toward the two. Merrin looked into Cal’s eyes. “Do you trust me?”

Cal gazed back into hers. “With my life.”

Merrin lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him, her eyes glowing with green flame. Heat surrounded him as the walls crushed inward and he heard her voice echo through the room. “Vashe!” The flame consumed him, and his stomach turned. Everything turned to darkness as the metal splintered and crushed into them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Darth Vader knows they're on board.


	23. Chapter 23

Cal landed in a thick, viscous liquid, his stomach churning violently. He found his feet, pulling himself up out of the vile soup, and immediately doubled over and vomited. As the last of the contents of his stomach left him, he stood up, Merrin’s arm over his slinging over his shoulders. Then the smell hit him, and he immediately gagged again. The nightsister beside him looked at him apologetically, also seeming to hold back a gag. “Sorry, this was the only place I could sense that was large enough and that had no one in it. I did not know about…” she gestured to the scrap, refuse, mold, and filth around them. “This.”

“Ugh, we’re in the ship’s waste processing plant. We need to get out of here.” The large room was filled with a dull light, the source of which was a single panel above the one door he saw. The two waded through knee-deep flith water toward the door.

“This room smells like a latrine.” Merrin covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve.

“It basically is a latrine. Every stormtrooper’s… business… ends up here.” They reached the door relatively quickly, and BD immediately jumped off Cal’s back and accessed the scomp link. The door opened, and all three of them jumped out, grateful for the Decimator’s recycled air once again. The room they found themselves had dozens of circular ports along the walls, only sharing two exits on either side. Cal looked around the room, smiled, and walked over to a control panel by the opposite door. “At least the empire had the good sense to put a decon shower right outside their refuse.”

“A what?”

Cal turned to look at Merrin, her clothing and exposed skin covered in filth. “Close your eyes and lift your arms up. Trust me.”

After a moment, she did as he asked. Cal activated the decontamination cycle, closed his eyes, and raised his arms as well. A loud alarm rang, and jets of freezing cold water blasted them from all directions. Merrin let out a surprised yelp as she fell to the ground. Cal managed to stay on his feet, but only just, the sudden bursts of water battering him from all sides. The water jets shut off, leaving the two in the white room soaking wet as the water swirled down the several drains on the floor. She looked up to him and scowled. “You could have given me a bit more warning.” She held up her hand.

Cal took it and helped her to her feet, most of the filth having been sprayed off the both of them, though the scent of mold, garbage, and human waste lingered. “Sorry, I didn’t know the water was going to come out that strong. Still, better than smelling like that so strongly all the way through the ship.”

Merrin could only let out a small sigh. “We should move. They know we are on board now, we will not have much time.”

“Yeah, you’re right. BD, where’s the closest access point to the service tunnels?” The droid, having been knocked off his shoulders by the water, hopped back onto his back dripping wet and projected the map of the star destroyer in front of him. Cal pointed to a yellow highlighted access port. “That looks like a good way in. Zoom out, will ya BD?” The image got smaller as more of the map came into view. “Yeah, we can head through this one, take this left here, this right here, and make it to the armory, then to the firing chamber in a straight shot.” He opened the door from the decon chamber, pulled open the vent to the service tunnel, and climbed though.

Merrin followed right behind him, squeezing through the tight corridor. “And if we run into this Darth Vader again?”

Cal took a deep breath. “Run. Don’t worry about me, just get out of here.” He looked up to the droid on his back. “If that happens, go with her, BD.” The droid whistled sadly. “No, I told you, you’re responsible for her. If we run into him again, you make sure Merrin is safe.” BD-1 hesitated for a moment before sounding out a couple beeps. Cal looked to the Nightsister beside him, her pale hair and dark clothes still soaking wet. “And if the worst happens, take care of BD.”

“I will not abandon you.”

He stopped, turning to look at Merrin right behind him. “None of us can stand up to him! No matter what, you need to get out of here!”

Merrin stepped up, pushing her face within inches of his. “No, you will listen. We are leaving together, or not at all. I will NOT abandon you.” After a moment of the two staring daggers into each other, she continued. “Would you leave me to die?”

Cal reeled back, his eyes widening in surprise. “What? No, of course not!”

“Then do not expect me to do the same to you. I love you Cal, and I will not leave you to be murdered. If we are to face this Vader, we will do it together.”

Cal stared at her, her eyes the hard and uncompromising eyes he had looked into so many times before, the eyes he had fallen in love with. He let out a sigh. “Merrin, the information on BD has to get to Hoth. They have to know how to stop this weapon. This is bigger than my life.”

“If we destroy it here, then there will be no problem.”

“If we destroy it here, the Empire still has the blueprints. If Saw knows about its weakness, they can disable the weapon anywhere it shows itself.” Cal turned and continued down the corridor. “Please, promise me that if you can’t save me, that you’ll get out of here.”

Merrin followed behind him, her eyes narrowing at him. “Only if you promise me the same.”

The two walked in silence for a moment before Cal responded. “I promise, I will get this information to Hoth if I can’t save you.”

“I know you are lying, Cal.”

He shook his head. “You’re asking me to do the impossible. I love you, I couldn’t just watch you die.”

“So, you would ask the impossible of me instead?”

“Let’s just drop it. I can feel his presence, we should be able to avoid him.”

She grabbed his wrist and held him back. “Cal.” She waited for him to face her. “We will succeed. If we are together, there is nothing we cannot do.”

Cal’s eyes dropped for a moment before meeting hers again. “Yeah.” He turned back around and started moving again, Merrin letting his wrist fall from her grasp. “The armory is right through here.”

The two reached a set of grating that showed a white room below them, devoid of any people but filled with lockers and crates. Cal dropped to the ground and peered through the grating carefully. Merrin waited for a moment before kneeling next to him. “What is it you are doing?”

“I’m looking for…” His head shifted slightly. “the crate that has… there it is.” He pulled the grate up slowly with his hand and reached out to one of the crates, a white metal box with several blinking lights on top. It shook around for a moment. “Come on…” The crate shook a few more times before opening up, revealing several metallic spheres marked with a blue stripe traveling down the center. One floated up to his hand. “There we go. I was looking for the ion grenades. Now we’re good to go.” He placed the grate back down slowly and stood, the Nightsister following him up. “Now we just head down here, drop the grenade into the pre-fire matrix, and run like hell.”

Merrin’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Cal, they know we are here.”

“Yeah?”

“Why have there been no alarms?” She looked down through the grates. “I have seen no stormtroopers searching for us. I have seen no stormtroopers at all since we co-located into the waste pit.”

The observation gave Cal pause. “I… I don’t know. I mean, you did teleport us before they actually saw us. Maybe they thought they were mistaken.” Cal’s feelings told him that was a lie, but he felt the need to hold on to any hope as the dark presence in the back of his mind rushed to the forefront.

Merrin’s eyes searched the floor, and he could tell she was doing the same. “Perhaps you are right. I just wish I did not have such a bad feeling about this.”

He found himself nodding. “Me too.” He took a deep breath and centered himself. “Let’s keep moving. The longer we’re here, the more danger we’re in.”

“Agreed.”

The two continued shuffling quietly through the maintenance halls, now significantly more aware of the lack of alarms and imperials below them. After a few minutes of walking in silence, they came across a sliding shaft, the grating below them showing the side of a room filled with heavy machinery, a set of large cylinders laying across the enormous room, each one flanked by a control panel. At least a dozen stormtroopers stood around the cylinders, each armed with heavy assault cannons. Cal froze. “I think we found all the stormtroopers.”

Merrin scanned the room through the grating with dread. “How did they know we would be here?”

Realization came over his face. “Vader. He must have felt our intention to destroy the weapon and placed guards at the weapon control rooms.” A small smile creeped up the sides of his mouth as he held up the ion grenade. “I guess he didn’t think about how we were going to do it, though.”

She returned his smile, hers holding an evil glint. “So we just throw it at them?”

“I was thinking behind the pre-fire chamber itself so they can’t just disarm it, then we slide down here and make a break for it. Where does this shaft lead, BD?” The droid brought the map up one more time, showing their position in the ship. “It leads to a large open vent, but right through those doors are the escape pods. It looks like we’re all clear. Let’s blow this thing and go home.”

She nodded. “I will hold the grate open if you would float the grenade over.”

“Thanks.” He held the grenade up and looked intently at it and through the grate to chart the path to behind the front cylinder. She dug her fingers into the grate, slowly wrapping them around the metal and pulling it up just enough to let the small metal sphere through. Cal let go of the grenade, moving it though the force through the opening in the grate and along the ceiling to the edge of his line of site. He then flipped the detonator and pushed it hard to the back of the room. “Run.”

The grenade bounced off the floor with a clang as Cal and Merrin jumped onto the sliding shaft, immediately accelerating as they slid down for only a couple moments. The ground opened below them and they landed expertly in the open corridor right in front of the large bay door leading to the escape pods. He had just enough time to look at the Nightsister beside him before all the lights shut down around them. Without another second to spare, a loud explosion went off above them and the ground they stood on shook violently, knocking them both down hard. As the bulkhead they now lay on stabilized, red emergency lights came to life around them painting the gray corridors the color of blood and a loud imperial alarm echoed through the halls. Merrin pushed herself up. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” Cal sprung up quickly. “It didn’t take long for that antimatter to collide with the containment walls once the power shut off. Let’s get out of here.”

Merrin nodded as they ran the few steps to the closed bay door. BD-1 hopped off Cal’s back and ran over to the control panel, opening the access port, inserting his power module, and restoring power to the door. Cal’s lightsaber instinctually raised up to block the red lightsaber that descended down on him, accompanied by the heavy mechanical breathing of Darth Vader. It took all Cal’s might to keep Vader from powering his lightsaber down through him. His deep, menacing voice resounded powerfully through the hall. “You were unwise to stick to your original plan.” Vader swung his blade around and knocked Cal off his feet, sending him spiraling to the ground and sliding against the wall. His lightsaber clattered on the ground behind him.

“Cal!” Merrin spared less than a second before focusing her attention on the Sith Lord before her. She raised her hands, igniting them in green flame before she went rigid and the flame went out. She flew forward, her legs trailing behind her, and floated in front of Vader unable to breath as she clutched at her throat.

Darth Vader looked down at her quizzically. “A nightsister. That would explain your disappearance.”

Cal pushed himself to his feet and pulled his lightsaber back to him as BD-1 jumped off the door panel, ran behind Merrin, climbed up her back and jumped off, aiming his scomp link right at Vader’s side. Merrin fell to the ground choking out a cough as the red lightsaber flashed in an arc in front of her, a shower of sparks illuminating the hallway as the two halves of BD-1 fell to the ground, unmoving as oil pooled on the ground around them.

Tears immediately fell down Cal’s cheeks as the scene played out in front of him. “BD!!!” he screamed.


	24. Chapter 24

Darth Vader looked at the Jedi before him. “Where is Cere Junda?” Merrin continued to choke out some coughs until she was lifted off the ground once more, her legs kicking beneath her. “I will not ask again.”

Cal absorbed the scene, his droid companion in halves on the floor, laying in a pool of its own oil, the woman he loved having her throat crushed in front of his eyes, and the rage immediately took over. He focused that rage into a single point as he screamed. “VADER!” He pushed forward with all his fury. The Sith Lord raised his hand to block, and their force colliding expanded outward, knocking Merrin out of his grasp and pressing out into the bulkheads, crushing them outwards in a shower of sparks and grinding metal.

Vader cocked his head to one side. “Impressive. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps you would make a fine inquisitor as well.”

“I WON’T LET YOU HURT HER!” Cal raised his lightsaber up and charged, only to be knocked back by an invisible fist knocking him off his feet and send him sliding back through another threshold behind him.

Merrin struggled to her knees as her eyes glowed with green flame. “Cal, we will do the same as with the pilot.” She reached her hand out as ghostly green flame surrounded the black helmet in front of them.

Cal watched her act for a split second before reaching out with into Vader’s mind, the force acting like a hurricane against his will as he moved in, attempting to force his will on the dark lord. “YOU WILL STOP!”

Vader stumbled back for a second before straightening back up. It was enough time for Cal to reach out and draw Merrin and both halves of BD-1 to him. The moment they reached him, he spun around and caught the door controls beside him with his lightsaber, the yellow blade slicing cleanly though the panel. As the door began to shut, the imperial lord thrust out his hand, stopping the doorway when it was nearly closed, bending the metal around the central diamond which was still open and locking the door in place. “Feeble.” His voice echoed through the halls despite its calmness.

Cal helped Merrin to her feet as she continued to cough and carried the broken droid in his other arm. “Come on, we gotta go.”

Merrin quickly pulled herself up with his help and ran right beside him. “You will…” she coughed. “… get no argue…” Another set of coughs. “… ment from me.” As they ran, her breath came out strained.

The sound of metal grinding together and tearing apart pierced through the air behind them. Cal found he could not bring himself to look back. He knew that Darth Vader was tearing the doors apart to get at them. He held the broken and melted pieces of his droid to his chest as he ran, Merrin keeping pace right beside him, and struggled to remember where the next bank of escape pods were. His vision blurred through his tears. “Where are the escape pods?”

“Are the doors marked?” She groaned out as they ran.

He wiped an eye with his sleeve and concentrated on the doors, finding one with the label he was looking for. “There!” The two reached the bay door and stopped right in front of it. It refused to open, a scomp port glowing red right next to the hatch as though to mock them. Cal extended his lightsaber. “We’ll have to cut through.”

The red emergency lights shuttered as the dark presence following them got stronger, closer. Merrin grabbed Cal’s arm. “I will get us through.” Her eyes glowed green as he nodded to her. “Vashe.”

Once more, Cal’s stomach churned as the green flames deposited him just beyond the door they were in front of, the nightsister landing right beside him. He couldn’t suppress a gag, though his stomach had nothing in it for him to vomit. He jerked forward as Merrin pulled him to an open port, a small cylindrical room just beyond it. As they jumped into the escape pod, Cal pushed his hand on the large red button near the back of the pod labeled as ‘launch’. The pod’s hatch closed with a loud suction as the door to the room dented inward with a deafening clang. They saw the door fly off the hinges and across the room through the hatch window as the pod launched away from the ship. The two could only stare as the form of Darth Vader appeared at the empty pod launcher, looking out to them. The ship continued to get further and further away, and the oppressive energy of the Sith Lord faded. From outside the ship, they could see the entire vessel was on emergency power, red light shining through most of the windows. Smoke and debris expanded in space above the star destroyer, and a large chunk of the top of the ship’s outer hull looked like it had been ripped off.

Once he was sure they were out of Vader’s reach and that the star destroyer couldn’t fire on them, Cal sat down on one side of the pod, and held BD-1 in his arms, looking down at the destroyed droid. He pulled out his multitool and began to remove the droid’s outer shell. “Please be okay, buddy. Please be okay.”

Merrin looked at him, confused, tears running down her cheeks as well. “What do you mean? Is he not destroyed?”

“I don’t know. If his memory core is intact I can repair any other damage he took, but if it’s been hit…” his voice trailed off as he worked.

Merrin placed her hand on the small droid. “Please be okay, BD.”

“I didn’t know you cared about him.”

“We bonded after Alderaan. He refused to leave my side. I had even begun to understand him a little. He is also important to you. This makes him important to me.” Her eyes closed and more tears squeezed out. “You cannot leave us now, BD.”

Cal removed the outer casing on the droid’s head and started pulling out destroyed circuit boards and wires. “His power core and backup battery are destroyed, and half the motor servos have been melted away. His memory core should be right…” Cal pulled out the board at the bottom of BD-1’s head, a black box soldered onto it, a corner of the box missing and melted metal covering half of it. “No…” The droid dropped form his hands and into his lap. “No, no no no…” More tears fell from his eyes, dropping off his cheeks and landing on the metal form he cradled.

Merrin said nothing, instead she sat next to him and put her arm around his back and leaned her head against his shoulder. “That is it then? He is dead? There is nothing we can do?”

“The heat, the casing, it’s…” Cal wiped his eyes and pulled the droid’s motherboard back up. “No, there’s always a chance. You taught me that, BD.” He picked his tool up off the floor he had not realized he dropped and began to undo the soldering that held the memory core’s casing to the motherboard. After a few long moments, he got the tip of his tool under the casing and pried it off slowly, being very careful not to touch any of the circuitry below. The shadow of the casing fell away from the silver and yellow coils underneath. Cal looked at the coils intensely, pulled a piece of cloth out from his pocket, and gently touched the parts of the coils that shined a sickly yellow brown-color. He let out a long, loud sigh as the yellow tarnish wiped away cleanly. The corners of his mouth curled up and he let out relieved laughter. “The casing protected it, his memory core’s intact!”

Merrin shot up and looked at him. “Does that mean…”

“I can repair him! The casing protected it from the heat! I can just replace everything else!”

Merrin’s mouth raised into a relieved smile, her mouth open with excitement. “He’s going to live!” She jumped out of her seat and wrapped her arms around Cal’s neck as she laughed into his shoulder. As quickly as it started, the laughter turned to sobs as she sat down next to him, continuing to cry into him. “He’s going to live.” She pulled her head away and stared at the Jedi she held in her arms. “He’s going to live.”

“Yeah. You’re crying, though.”

“As are you.” She smiled at him as the two continued to release their tears. “We were almost killed. I did not expect him to be that strong.”

Cal nodded solemnly. “Yeah, but you were right. Together, we can do anything.”

She simply stared into his eyes for a moment, her tears slowing as he placed the ruined body of BD-1 on the seat beside them. She bit her lower lip as they stared into each other’s eyes. “Cal, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I would share the bond with you.” Her breathing quickened after she said the words.

Cal’s eyebrow raised up in confusion. “Um, okay? You’ve talked about this ‘bond’ before. What is it?”

Realization came over her features. “I have not explained it to you. Forgive me.” Her arms dropped from around his neck and she sat up straight, no longer leaning into him. “The bond, it is an oath. We take it with one who we trust above all others, with one who we love.”

“Is this what you meant when you said your bond with your sisters is eternal?”

Merrin shook her head. “No.” She hesitated. “Well, yes, but… it is difficult to explain. My bond with my sisters was that of mutual protection and respect. There is love, but it is not the same. What I share with my sisters is a bond, but not the bond. There is only one who I would share the bond with.”

Cal cocked his head. “And you would share this bond with me?”

“I love you Cal. We have faced death together more than once, and over the time we have known each other you have always, how do you say, had my back.” She reached down and took his hands into hers. “The time we have spent together has been precious to me, and I do not wish for it to end.”

Cal could only smile at her as he squeezed her hands lovingly. “Okay, so what is this oath?”

A small blush formed on her cheeks. “If I tell you the oath, I will mean it, and I do not wish to force you into something you do not want.” She took a deep breath. “I will say the words, but you do not have to return them. I do mean them, though.”

“Alright.”

Merrin took another deep breath, closing her eyes as she did so. Her beath wavered as she exhaled. Her eyes opened as they met Cal’s once more. “I entrust my weakness to you, as I swear to guard your weakness. You may always turn your back to me, and I will keep faith with you, until I breath my last.”

Cal’s entire face turned red as she spoke. He swallowed the lump in his throat. After a moment of silence, he spoke. “Is that all of it?”

Merrin softly nodded. “The nightsisters are not one for much ceremony outside the required for our magics.” Her blush deepened. “Though at this point, you would turn around to allow me to either kiss your neck or slice it open. It is a sign that you trust I will not kill you, even when you let your guard fall away.”

Cal hesitated for only a moment before turning away from her and looking down. “Like this?”

He felt her hands wrap around his chest as she pressed her body against his back. Her warm lips pressed against the nape of his neck, holding there for a moment before pulling away with a soft smack. She released her grip on his and pulled away. “Yes, like that.”

He turned to face her, her eyes having found the floor, the blush still strong on her cheeks. His hand raised up and cupped her cheek, pulling her eyes back up to his. “Merrin, I entrust my weakness to you, and I promise I will guard your weakness.” Her breath sucked in and her eyes widened as he spoke. “You can always turn your back to me, and I will always stay true to you. Until my last breath.”

Tears fell anew from her eyes as her bottom lip quivered in her loving smile. She slowly turned around and looked down, exposing her neck to him completely. He leaned in, placed his hands on her hips, and pulled her against his body, kissing her gently at the nape of her neck. As he released the kiss, she leaned back against him and sighed contently. He smiled as her head rested against his chest. “I like that oath, so I guess I would share the bond with you too.” He dropped down and kissed her on the forehead. “I love you so much, Merrin.”

“I love you, Cal. With all my heart.” She turned around in his arms and rose up, placing her lips against his. The two held for a moment before Merrin pulled away, her nose wrinkled in disgust. “Ugh, I just got a smell down your shirt. We still smell like a latrine pit.”

“Yeah, that’s gonna stick around until we get back to the Mantis and hit the ‘fresher.” Cal looked at the pod’s controls. “We should be entering the atmosphere right about now, so it’ll be just a few minutes until we hit land and can get picked up.”

The next few minutes went by quickly as white plasma sparks flew around the escape pod. True to the plan they had come up with, the Mantis flew down right as the escape pod it the water, and Cal and Merrin boarded the ship right after taking their boots off and emptying the filth that still filled them into the lake. Cere stood at the top of the ramp, shock on her face as she looked down to the broken droid in Cal’s arms. “What happened to BD?”

“It’s a long story, but his memory core is intact. I know I have a spare power cell in the engine room, but we’re gonna have to replace a lot of his body.” Cal walked into the ship, placed the broken droid down on the table by them, and then took Cere by surprise by wrapping his arms around her.

Cere stood there, looking stunned for a moment, the sky giving way to stars as the Mantis had lifted off. “What’s that for?”

Cal released his friend. “Just glad to be back, and grateful for everything you’ve done for me.” His face fell a little bit. “Vader was on that ship.”

Cere’s breath caught in her throat, the hyperspace tunnel appearing in the window above them. “You didn’t face him, did you?”

“We almost died. He is the one who tried to destroy BD.” Merrin gestured to the droid.

“Cere, he wanted to know where you were.” He looked into Cere’s eyes intently. “Vader, he’s searching for you.”

Cere’s eyes searched the floor. “I should never have used the dark side, not in his presence.”

“You saved my life, and you didn’t let it control you.” Cal’s hand found its way to Cere’s shoulder. “The dark side will always be a part of us, but it doesn’t control us.”

Greez appeared from the cockpit. “I don’t know what you did, but that star destroyer was in no condition to even try coming after us.” He raised his hand to stifle a yawn. “I really glad you’re both okay.” His head turned to one side. “What happened to your droid?”

“I have to get him repaired. I’m glad to get back, though. Are we on our way back to Hoth?”

Cere nodded. “Yeah, did you get what you went in there for?”

“Yeah, BD got detailed records on this weapon, Saw should have no problem taking it out if they build another one.” Cal stepped over to the droid and picked it up. “That being said, I do want to get him connected to another power core.”

Greez stretched his arms over his head for a moment. “Sounds like a plan, kid. It’s been a long day, though, and we got another week until we reach Hoth.” He went into the kitchen, and poured some liquid into four glasses, bringing them all out. He handed a glass to each of them. Cal looked down at it, an unappealing black liquid sitting before him that smelled like rotten fruit and burning. “We came out of this successful, so we’ll have our victory dance, then I’m going to bed.”

Merrin looked down at the liquid dubiously. “What is it?”

“It’s a celebration in a glass. Slam it down.” Greez threw the glass back, taking the whole serving into his mouth and down his throat. “Like that.”

Cal and Merrin looked at each other. “Well, after Vader, how back could this be?” Cal smiled. The two looked down, then mirrored Greez, swallowing the liquid in one gulp. Merrin began to cough violently, and Cal’s throat almost closed on him completely. “Oh, it’s bad, it’s really really bad…” his voice wheezed out.

Cere smiled, shook her head, and threw the glass back herself with no issues. “I think I’ll probably get to bed myself. Merrin?”

Merrin straightened herself out and cleared her throat. “I will need a shower, we spent some time in the Decimator’s waste pit.”

“Oh, that’s what that smell is.” Greez broke from the group and headed to his room. “Well, don’t sit on my sofa until you clean up. G’night.”

Cere followed, with Cal and Merrin right behind. Cere disappeared into her room as the two carried BD’s ruined body onto the workbench. Cal opened a drawer and pulled out a small battery, and connected it to the undamaged wires leading into the droid’s power core. Light slowly returned to the droid’s lenses. It beeped and whistled. Cal and Merrin smiled down at the droid. “Yeah, buddy, you’re okay. I was afraid I lost you.” Another series of trills and beeps came from the unmoving droid. “Hey, with how much you’ve saved me, it was about time I did something for you.”

Merrin leaned down and placed a kiss on BD-1. “Thank you for everything, BD. Cal will fix you up as soon as we get to Hoth.”

“You bet I will.” Cal smiled as BD let out another small string of beeps. “Yeah, you can power down. I don’t think just laying here will be very interesting. I’ll turn you back on when we get you mobile again.”

The droid beeped once more, and the lights on his working parts shut off. Cal collapsed on his cot, Merrin plopping down right next to him. She looked over to the Jedi beside her. “It has been a long day.”

“Yeah it has.” He looked back at the Nightsister. He found her dark gray lips too enticing as he leaned over and kissed her gently. “I’m glad with how it ended, though.”

Merrin gave him a small nod. “You need a shower.”

He chuckled. “You could use one yourself.” He leaned back. “Go ahead, I can wait a little bit.”

She leaned back next to him. “No, you go. I wish to rest for a while.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am sure. Go, I can tell you have been thinking about it since we climbed on board.” She pushed him gently to help him off his cot.

Cal reluctantly rose. “Okay. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m done, though. I know you’ve been wanting one too, especially since this one won’t knock you on your butt.” He couldn’t help but smile mischievously at her glare. Her glare broke almost immediately as the two began to laugh. “I won’t be long.”

Cal left her on his cot as he entered the refresher. The door closed behind him as he removed his clothing, placing all of them into the laundry chute right next to the shower, knowing his clothes would be cleaned along with him. He opened the gray metal door to the shower and turned it on, allowing the hot water to spill from the shower heads before he stepped into the stream and closed the solid metal door behind him. The floor was covered by a soft, porous covering and the rectangular room remained lit by the lighting panels that lined the ceiling. He let the water pour over him, the heat massaging all his muscles as the subtle sonic waves loosened all the grime all over his body to get washed away.

He had no idea how long he stood there, absorbing the relaxing massage from the water when he heard the refresher door open outside the shower. He found himself glad the shower itself was completely contained, with no openings to the toilet portion of the room. With only one room for the both, he would take privacy where he could.

The shower door opened, and Cal jumped back. “Hey, I’m in here!”

“I know.”

Cal’s mind froze. “Merrin?” He leaned over to peak out the door, and his breath caught in this throat. Right in front of him was the nightsister, her white hair, unbound from the bun he had always seen it in and spilling down just over her shoulders, wearing only her golden necklace. “Wha…” His eyes trailed down her body, her pale white skin decorated with numerous dark lines and patterns. Cal had dreamed about her body before, but he reeled at her now. She looked nothing like he had imagined. Her tattoos ran all the way down her body, stripes traveling down her sides and arms with rings around her elbows, wrists, and fingers, down her hips and legs, ending down at her toes. He marveled at the soft curve of her breasts tipped with dark gray nipples, larger than he had imagined and oval shaped that pointed upward slightly. His eyes traveled down to her core, her abdominal muscles softly defined, several large scars traveling along her ribs, showing strength as the lines of her muscles drew his eyes further down to the tuft of pure white hair between her legs. Her arms twitched as she struggled to keep them from covering her body, more scars showing old cuts along her arms and legs, both of which were also clearly muscled. Her naked body showed a strength that was never apparent through her clothes. Cal couldn’t bring himself to take his eyes off of her.

Merrin looked directly into his eyes. “Do you remember what I said to you when we first met?”

Cal struggled to clear his mind. He remembered the words, but he could not guess what she was getting at. “You… trespass… Jedi?”

The tension in her shoulders immediately evaporated as she laughed out loud, her eyes closing as she held her stomach trying to quiet herself. She slowly regained her composure, looked up into his eyes, and stepped toward him, forcing him to back into the shower as she slid below the streaming water next to him. She looked him over slowly before she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her naked body against his. “I said I’m finished waiting.” She pulled on his neck and drew him into a passionate kiss, her tongue immediately pushing into his mouth. Their tongues wrestled with each other for far too little time before she broke the kiss and looked into his eyes, her hair sticking to the side of her face as the water ran down her body.

Cal hesitated for a moment, looking deeply into her eyes. Within them he saw love, and desire, and passion, and fear. He could feel her fear, and he remembered her words. ‘Never push me away again.’ He wrapped an arm around her back and continued their kiss, pushing his tongue back into her mouth as he reached out with his other hand, fumbling around the door frame until he hit the controls and closed the door to the shower. The two pressed against each other as the water fell between them, their bodies hotter than the water could hope to be. Once the shower door closed, his hands found their way down to cup her bottom. He lifted her up and turned to the side, pressing her against the wall of the shower to rest on the small outcropping that acted as a shelf as she wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him tightly to her with her whole body. Their kiss broke only when they needed air, the two breaking to stare at each other once more, panting for breath. “I love you, Merrin.”

“I love you, Cal. I am glad I share the bond with you.” Her eyes traveled down his neck to the point where their bodies met, where her soft mounds flattened against his chest. Cal found he enjoyed the feeling of her breasts against him very much. She released one of her arms from around his neck and reached down between their bodies, reaching between his legs, grabbing him and pressing him against the tuft of hair between her legs as he let out a strangled moan. She looked back into his eyes, her face determined. “I will have you now.”

Cal could feel his entire body heat from her touch and her words, and the way her body seemed ready to swallow him where she pressed him against her. He had dreamed of her coming into the shower or on his cot many times before, no matter how many times he had tried to ignore it. He had dreamed of kissing her, pressing her against a wall, making love to her, and here, in this moment, everything disappeared. It was the most surreal moment of his life. It was just the two of them, heat and love and water between them, the sounds of their breathing and droplets hitting the floor surrounding them in the steam. He steeled himself. “Merrin.” He looked into her eyes as the two froze against each other. “I’ve fantasized about this for a long time. This is real, isn’t it. This is really happening.” His words came out as statements rather than questions.

Her lips curled up into a soft smile. “I am glad I was not the only one dreaming of this while in here.” She kissed him softly, her lips brushing against his for only a moment before withdrawing. “This is real. I am here, and so are you.”

Cal stared at the nightsister clinging to him. “You want me now?”

She could only nod.

Cal pulled his hips back and allowed her to position his tip at her entrance. He leaned in and kissed her gently once more as he pushed into her. He felt her envelop him, slowly taking him into her until their skin caught. He could feel a wetness in her, a liquid fire that surrounded him as he pulled back, and slowly thrust forward once more, gently penetrating further into her. She pressed her hips forward, giving him better access as he slowly worked his way into her, slightly out and further in, over and over, the burning pleasure slowly consuming him, electricity pulsing into him where they connected. Both of their breathing became labored as he gained ground inside of her, his breath catching in his throat as their hips met. He could feel everything, his entire length buried in her, the hair between their legs mixing in a dance of white and red. Her arms and legs squeezed around his neck and waist tighter as they stood, connected in the most primal way they had ever experienced. He could feel her pulse through their connection as their breath mixed in front of their faces, both of them breathing through open mouths.

Merrin could hold it no longer, leaning in to kiss him with all the passion she could muster while grinding her hips into his. Cal retaliated by pulling back, and thrusting deep inside her. She broke the kiss immediately, sucking in a surprised breath. Her breathing came shallow and labored as he slowly pulled out and pushed back in, gyrating his hips back and forth, every movement sending ripples of burning love through each of them. Their eyes met, and Cal’s hand traveled up her side, caressing up and down the tattooed line as they moved against each other. Their rhythm was irregular and unpracticed, but the electric current running through them was sending them both into pure ecstasy.

Cal’s hips sped up as he felt Merrin tense, and her mouth fell open. She drew more and more air into her lungs with every breath, each breath deeper than the last, her chest rising and falling with more and more intensity. A soft squeak came out of her mouth as her breath caught in her throat. She clenched around him tightly, and her legs and arms tensed around him. Her abs curled and drew her forward as her jaw went slack and her eyes rolled in the back of her head as a sudden surge of heat exploded up from her hips, nearly burning Cal inside her. Her head fell backward, only to flop forward again as she buried her face into his neck to let out a long, soft moan, the pleasure of her orgasm overtaking her completely. Her body remained tense for a long moment, and Cal stopped, her clenching around him nearly sending him over the edge. After a very long moment, Merrin’s body relaxed a bit before beginning to tremble. Her legs lost their grip around him and she slid down his body a touch before he caught her. She looked into his eyes as he lowered her to the floor of the shower, pulling out of her completely. He lay her down on the soft mat on the shower floor as she pulled Cal down with her, pulling his face to hers and kissing him fiercely, forcing her tongue into his mouth as she moaned into it. He gladly obliged, laying down on top of her and returning her kiss, his legs hitting the shower wall in an awkward tangle.

She slipped her legs out from under him and used her thighs to position him between them, drawing him into her again as she wrapped her legs around his hips. Cal let out a low moan as her heat connected them once more. She thrust her hips up, and it was all the encouragement he needed. Cal pushed off the shower floor to look down on her and thrust his hips forward, causing her entire body to jolt up with the impact. He thrust again, and again, enjoying the sight of her body reacting to him, her breasts bouncing up and down with every thrust. His hips moved faster and faster, his control gone as he looked into the eyes of the woman he loved. Her hands cupped around his neck and her legs pulled him deeper and deeper inside of her as the burning pleasure exploded and he froze, buried as far inside her as he could, their hips grinding together in pure emotion as his vision went white.

As his orgasm subsided, his vision returned to him. He caught a small glimpse of the nightsister below him, panting for breath through the largest smile he had ever seen on her before collapsing in a heap on top of her, every bit of his energy spent. The two lay there, water cascading down their naked forms as they caught their breath. After a moment of the two listening to each other’s breath, Cal rolled off of her, relishing the movement as he pulled out of her completely, and lay on his side next to her. His arm rested across her stomach as he used his other as a pillow, folded beneath his head. “That… that was…”

Merrin turned her head to look at him, the same smile on her face. She rolled toward him, pressing her body against his once more, and threw her arm over his shoulders. She pulled him into another kiss, this one lazy and sloppy, her lips slipped all over his mouth as she fought to find a purchase. She quickly gave up and broke the kiss, staring at him lovingly, her eyes half-closed. “We will do this again.”

Cal paused, looking down at himself. “Well, I mean, give me a few minutes…”

Merrin burst into laughter, trying to keep the volume down. “I did not mean right now!” She lay back on her back, a small giggle still coming out of her mouth.

He smiled as he looked over her form, noting all the little imperfections that he had never imagined about her, and he found she was more beautiful than he could have ever come up with himself. Every scar, every odd shape or discoloration or tattoo, they all spoke to who Merrin is, and he found he loved every one of them. He noticed a large splotchy patch of scar tissue just below her ribs. “Can I ask you about one of your scars?”

“Can I ask you about one of yours?”

“Of course.” Cal rolled forward, leaning his body against her side.

“It is only fair you ask your question first.”

“Oh, okay.” His hand found its way to her largest scar, his fingers dancing lightly over it. “How did you get this one?”

Merrin looked down at herself. “Ah, that. I fell into a Nydak pit when I was a child. Mother refused to let anyone help me. She said that if I was clumsy enough to fall in, I needed to be strong enough to fight my way out.”

The smile disappeared from his face. “Merrin, I’m… I’m sorry.”

Her face scrunched in confusion. “I am not. I made it out of the pit, and I am stronger because of it. Ugly as they may be, I do not regret any of my scars.”

He shook his head. “They’re beautiful. Everything about you is beautiful.”

“You are saying this because we just made love.” She looked him over. “Then again, I could say the same of you. I do love looking at you. I enjoy looking at your spots.”

Cal’s eyes scanned from side to side. “My spots?”

Merrin nodded. “Yes. You are covered in them. Do not tell me you never noticed.”

He looked down, probing his entire body. “I don’t see any spots…”

Merrin started pointing at several places on his body. “They are all over you, especially on your shoulders, tiny little dark spots that decorate your flesh.”

Realization came over his face. “Oh, you’re talking about my freckles.”

“Freckles?”

“That’s what we call these tiny spots.”

She paused for a moment. “Why do you call them ‘freckles’?”

Cal opened his mouth, then froze. “I… I don’t know. We just do.”

“You are very strange, Cal.”

“I could say the same about you. But you’re the best kind of strange. You’re the kind of strange I love.”

She relaxed back. “I certainly hope so. I very much wish to see that ridiculous face you make again.”

Cal’s eyebrow raised. “What ridiculous face?”

Merrin turned back toward him, a smirk on her lips. “When you came, you looked like this.” She closed her eyes to slits and gritted her teeth at him, widening her mouth as though it were pulled to each side.

Cal couldn’t contain the chuckle even as he pretended to be offended. “I do NOT look like that!”

“You absolutely look like this!” She joined in the laughter.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, just so long as I get to see that ridiculous face YOU make again.”

Merrin whipped her head to the side in mock annoyance. “I do not make a face when I come.” She looked back to Cal as he rolled his eyes back and let his mouth go slack, his head bobbling around. She playfully smacked him in the shoulder. “I do not look like that!”

He pushed his face right next to hers, their noses almost touching. “You absolutely look like that!”

The two stared at each other for a moment, the smiles fading and he felt himself harden against her leg. She pushed him off her and rolled him onto his back as she got up and straddled him. “I will see that ridiculous face of yours again now.” Without waiting for any confirmation, she lowered herself onto him, her head falling back as she bit her lip, taking his entire length into her in one fluid motion. “Hnnnggg…”

Cal wasted no time. He grabbed her hips tightly and thrust his up into hers. Merrin immediately started grinding into him hungrily, bending forward to kiss him once more. They found a rhythm quickly, and the pleasure built inside of them much, much faster than before. After what both considered far too little time, she clenched around him again as her eyes rolled back and her mouth fell open, and it drove him over the edge. “Ooohh, Merrrrrin…” his voice came out slowly as they basked in their completion together. As the flames died down, she collapsed on top of him in her afterglow. Cal breathed heavily into her ear. “I love you.”

“I love you.” She whispered right next to her ear. The two lay together, calming their breathing for a moment until Merrin began to squirm uncomfortably on top of him. “Ow.”

His eyes opened. “Are you okay?”

“The water, it is getting too hot.”

Cal sat up, bringing Merrin with him, and hit the control panel at the front of the shower. The water immediately stopped with an electronic beep. “I guess we ran out of coolant.”

“Coolant?”

“The water system purifies the water by turning it into steam and filtering it, then it cools it down for use. If you use too much, the coolant can’t keep up with the flow.”

Merrin’s head cocked to the side as she looked down at Cal while sitting in his lap. “There are many things about this ship I have yet to learn.” She stood up in front of him and offered her hand. He took it, and she pulled him up as she stifled a yawn. “I was not joking when I said I wished to rest, perhaps we should retire for the night.”

“At least we gave our clothes plenty of time to get clean and dry.” He opened the door, and the two stepped out, the shower hitting them with a blast or air to dry them completely as they left. Cal watched her shutter as she moved. “Are you okay?”

Merrin placed a hand on the wall. “Yes, my legs just shake. It is hard to walk.”

Cal opened the laundry refresher door to reveal all their clothes, washed and folded, though in a pile mixed together. “Let me help.” He stifled a yawn as he began to pull their clothing out and helped her get dressed, putting his own clothing on as he grabbed them. After they were completely dressed, Merrin opened the door to the rest of the ship and exited. Cal followed her, only to be hugged by her as soon as he stepped over the threshold. Cal smiled at the nightsister staring into his eyes. “Is this where we part?”

“Oh, no, I will sleep with you. Tonight, and forever after.” She smiled as Cal turned to walk, her arm falling down his side to be caught by his hand as he led her into the back, their fingers interlocking. The both sat on his cot and swung their feet up. Cal lay back as Merrin cuddled against his side. She let out a contented sigh. “I do wish we were still naked. I wish to feel your body under mine.”

“I wish we could do that too. I’ll have to get Greez to install a door.” Cal’s eyes closed as sleep began to take him. “You never asked me about my scars.”

Merrin’s eyes closed as she snuggled into him. “There is time. I love you, Cal.”

Cal turned his head and kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, Merrin.” As he felt her body relax and fall into slumber, he allowed sleep to take him.

Cal’s dreams had never been so pleasant, Merrin’s warmth soothing his mind even during sleep. When his eyes opened, he felt more rested than he had in years. Merrin stirred beside him, her eyes opening along with his. Then their cot shook once more. They both looked up to see Cere, taking her boot off the cot. She looked down at the two, her face that same mixture of amusement and annoyance as when she caught them kissing. “It looks like you two got comfortable.” She gestured to the diving room with her head. “Come on, breakfast is ready.” She turned and left.

Cal looked to Merrin, who had already started to climb over him to leave the cot. He sat up a little and grabbed her wrist. “Hey, I was hoping to, you know, bask a little bit more.”

Merrin smiled down at him. “That sounds like a good idea, but we did work up quite an appetite last night. I am very hungry.”

Almost on cue, Cal’s stomach grumbled. He let out a quiet chuckle, sat up, and threw his legs over the side. “I guess you’re right.” He stood up, caught Merrin’s arm and turned her around, leaning in and placing his lips against hers. They lingered for a moment, enjoying each other’s heat before breaking and heading into the main hull.

As soon as Merrin saw Cere and Greez sitting at the table, she gave them both a warm smile. “Good morning.”

Cal followed, unable to keep the goofy grin off his face. “G’morning.”

Greez’s eyes darted between the two of them. “Why the hell are you two so peppy this morning?”

Merrin simply shrugged and sat down at one of the empty places at the table, a plate of what looked like eggs and fruit in front of her. “We are alive, we succeeded in our mission. Why would we not be happy?”

Cal sat next to her and immediately began eating. Greez looked at the two. “I’m glad you two are getting on well. I suppose you don’t want to go back to Dathomir.”

“I had not planned on it. Were you trying to get rid of me?” Her gaze pierced right through the small pilot.

“What? No, I just thought that since your vengeance is complete, or something, that you might, you know, go back and start rebuilding the Nightsisters or something. I mean, before you and Cal.”

Merrin shook her head. “Like the Jedi, if the Nightsisters are to survive, we must change. I spent my life being taught to reject the rest of the galaxy. I no longer believe this is the way. If the Nightsisters are to be reborn, we must embrace the galaxy.” She scooped up some eggs and shoveled them into her mouth. “Besides, it seems likely that the Nightsisters will be reborn sooner rather than later, if Cal’s seed finds purchase within me.”

Cal spit his food out of his mouth as Greez choked on his blue milk and Cere dropped her fork on her plate. Cere stared at the nightsister. “Are you planning on bedding Cal?”

Merrin looked to the older Jedi with confusion. “Cal and I made love in the refresher last night.” A pleasured smile appeared on her face. “Twice.”

Cal wiped the remaining food off his face where it had not flew away from him. “Wha… Merrin! Why are you telling them this?”

Cere pinched her nose and sighed, at a loss for words.

Merrin’s eyes met his. “What? They are our friends, I assumed they would be happy for us.”

Greez gave the two a look of disbelief. “Whoa whoa whoa, you two did what in my ‘fresher?”

Cal covered his face with his hands, his face turning dark red. “You’re the one who told me to go for it!” he pleaded.

“I meant take her to dinner, maybe see a concert, I didn’t mean have sex with her in my shower! We all gotta use that!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm not incredibly familiar with how the rating system works on this site, this being the first story I'm publishing here. I thought that an M rating would be sufficient, I tried to keep the shower scene about how they felt about each other, about the love between Cal and Merrin. If the M rating is insufficient, though, please tell me so I can upgrade it.  
> In other news, with as many times as C-3PO was blasted apart, I figure that BD-1 would be fine. I love him too much to kill him off (though it was tempting just for the angst).


	25. Epilogue

A week passed, and the Mantis reached Hoth, coming in for a landing at the Partisan base. The week went by without incident, though Cal and Merrin promised to cool down while they were traveling. They mostly kept their word, only being caught in the act once in their cot. As they descended to the planet below, they saw a much larger area built, with enormous mounds of stone and ice where the base had been excavated, a newly constructed base shield protecting the Partisans from any attack should one come.

“This is starting to look like a real base.” Cal looked over the layout on his scanner.

“You’d be amazed at what a couple hundred construction droids can do.” Greez punched a couple of buttons and put his hands back on his flight stick. “We’re coming in a little fast, hold on.”

The Mantis slowed right as it reached the landing pad and landed with a bound, the landing struts absorbing the shock of the impact, though everyone on board was nearly thrown off their feet. Cere steadied herself. “Not one of your more gossamer landings.”

“What can I say, I’m tired.” Greez flipped a couple switches and the cockpit began to power down. “I’m ready for a nice long vacation.” He turned to leave the ship, immediately noticing Cal and Merrin smiling at each other like idiots. “I’m also ready to get away from you two.”

Cal was taken aback. “What? What did we do?”

“You two have been insufferably in love all week. It’s tiring.” Cere turned as well, following Greez out of the ship. She tried to look annoyed, but Cal could tell she was happy for them.

Merrin raised her eyebrows. “Have we?”

“I haven’t noticed anything.” Cal gave her a shrug and began out of the ship, grabbing her hand as he passed her. She immediately followed him out.

Upon exiting the ship, they saw three familiar faces in white uniforms, the uniforms nearly blending into the snow that surrounded them. Saw raised his hand up. “Welcome back. How did the mission go?”

Cal stepped forward, taking the destroyed shell of BD-1 out of the bag he carried. “Success. All the information on the weapon is on BD’s memory core. He needs to be repaired though.

Ortas Jindo smiled a wide, goofy grin and clapped Cal on the shoulder. A stinging pain traveled down his body. “I knew you could do it!”

Merrin smiled up at the large man, his blonde hair falling out of his helmet and in front of his face. “Ortas, it is good to see you.”

“You too.” He turned and gestured toward the hangar bay. “Let’s get inside before we freeze to death.”

As the three walked, Cal looked to the third member of their welcoming party. He nodded toward her. “Hey LN.”

LN-827 nodded back at him. “I’m glad you’re okay, Cal. I’m glad you’re all okay.”

“So, how did you get this information, anyway?” Saw called out without turning.

“We infiltrated the Star Destroyer it was built on and stole the technical data right out of their data banks. Then we destroyed it.” Cal took a deep breath. “It wasn’t easy. But I when I saw they were powering the weapon with antimatter, I saw an opportunity.”

Saw turned quickly, surprise on his face. “You’re joking, right?”

“Not at all.”

A smile crept up on the partisan leader’s face, and he began to laugh, gaining volume as he continued. “This is fantastic news! If they try to rebuild this weapon again, all we need is one ion missile and we can destroy the whole ship! They’d need a platform with a kilometer of shielding just to protect it.” Saw’s laughter died down and he placed a hand on Cal’s shoulder, looking over the entire Mantis crew. “You guys did great work. The Empire isn’t defeated, but this was one hell of a victory over them. You saved millions, billions of lives today. I think that’s worth a celebration.”

Greez let out his own belly laugh. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

Saw turned back around and continued. “Follow me, there’s something I want to show you.”

As the crew followed, Ortas spoke up. “We’ve all been talking, and we’d be honored if you guys stayed with us. We know you have your own missions to do, Jedi business and all that, but we all want you to call Hoth your home base.”

The group turned down a corridor lined with doorways. Saw faced the group and gestured to them. “The base is nearly complete, and we have almost everything we need. If you want, these are all officer’s quarters. There’re more than enough for everyone here, so if you want one, it’s yours.”

Cal looked down the rows of doors, some with names engraved on them, but most blank. He approached a blank door, his eyes widening with awe when it slid open. The room beyond was as large as the Mantis, with its own refresher and small living area. “Saw, this is…”

“They’re not much to look at, but I figure with all four of you on that boat, this place would probably look like the Naboo royal palace.”

“It’s perfect.” Cal took one more step into the room, letting himself absorb it. He hadn’t had his own room since Bracca. “I mean, I’m for it, but if everyone else…”

Without warning, a hand appeared on the small of his back, shoving him into the room. He turned quickly to see Merrin entering behind him, a sultry smile on her face. She turned to the rest of the group, looking up to Saw. “I believe we would be happy to stay. Thank you for the room, Saw.” Her hand raised up to the door controls. “We will see you in the morning.” A hiss sounded, and the door shut in their faces, leaving a bewildered Saw, Ortas, and LN and a mildly annoyed Greez and Cere.

Saw gaped for a moment. “Did she… Are they…”

Cere rolled her eyes and continued down the corridor. “Don’t get me started.”

Greez followed. “Hey, at least we don’t have to see it.”

“It’s what you get for checking out ‘weird noises’ in the engine room.”

Saw stared after the two, then let out a laughing sigh. “Ah, young love.” He followed Cere and Greez, Ortas and LN following behind, blushing as they glanced at each other.

Cere looked over her shoulder at the older man. “I expected you to be a bit annoyed too, honestly.”

“You mean as annoyed as you’re pretending to be?” They shared a knowing glance before both chuckled. “No. It’s things like that that’re what we fight for. We want a galaxy that’s free of the Empire, so that kids like them can have a life, fall in love, and not have to worry about what’s going to come after them.”

Greez continued on, getting a little past the group. “Yeah, you’re right. Just wish they didn’t ruin my engine room is all.” He whirled around. “So, how about that celebration? I could certainly eat.”

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it, story complete! I hope everyone liked it. This story was burning such a hole in my brain, and it feels REALLY good to get it completed, especially since it's over 60,000 words in under 2 months. Makes me feel really good about myself. In any case, definitely leave a like if you liked it, and I always love reviews. Seriously, all you guys have been some of the most amazing people during the writing of this story. You guys really gave me the motivation to write during this whole process. So, seriously, thank you everyone, everyone who read my little story, everyone who left kudos, and everyone who reviewed. I love you all.


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